Three thus far
Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 7:30AM Three is a fantastic age. Seamus has a ton of language and uses it to express his delight in everything that interests him and his inquiry into everything that puzzles him. He’s capable of small jobs and can do them routinely, and he is developing thoughtfulness. I watch him engage with his peers, animals, and adults, and I see the beginnings of empathy, I see friendliness and curiosity about others.
Three is kicking our ass. Seamus has a loud voice and screams and whines to express his displeasure in everything that thwarts and is denied him. He’s capable of attempting to manipulate situations by crying that he’s hurting when put in a stroller or carrier as part of a time-out and does this whenever he thinks it will work. When it doesn’t (and it never does) he pitches tantrums for over an hour. If given a time-out in his room, he deliberately pees on the floor. He wantonly causes messes when asked not to, and does not see the connection between the time it takes to clean up his destruction and the resulting loss of time in fun stuff. Days go by in which he fights us on every aspect of his day, and those fights make up our entire day.
Right now he’s in the carrier on my back in a prolonged time-out, because I don’t want to clean yet another puddle off of the floor, or stand next to his room holding the door closed. The three minute time-out isn’t working these days, so he’ll stay up here until he’s calmed down. He’s flailing a lot, but if I stay clear of the furniture he’ll be safe enough.
And he’s done. Took twenty minutes. And suddenly I’m busting out the techniques from when he was eighteen months. Beats losing my shit and smacking him, I hope.
Reader Comments (3)
Oh sister, I hear you.
And you've got the two! How do you keep from losing it? I do well enough most of the time, but some days he smacks all of my buttons at once.
ahhhhh. Shades of 34 years ago or so...
How do you keep from losing it? You simply do...and have that wicked hope of all parents of all ages and all nations: "Someday, kiddo, what goes around comes around...and you will have your child do this to you!!"