My Son, The Devil

My sweet, adorable, good natured little boy has become the spawn of Satan. In the past week, the devil has reared its ugly horns and unfortunately he is here to stay for a while. Nothing and no one can save us now.

I want to know what parenting professional came up with the terrible two's. Because as far as I am concerned, there is no such thing. Both of my first 2 children breezed through 2. In fact, I will brag to many that 2 is my favorite age. So adorable for so many reasons. Sure, there are some tantrums, but that is any kid at any age really.

The Terrible Threes. With my kids, things begin to go awry about 6 weeks before their 3rd birthday. They suddenly become a completely different child. Our house becomes a battle ground for everything. Everything. Going potty before leaving the house, putting on a jacket, what to have for a snack, taking a shower, what shirt to wear, turning off the TV, what show to watch when the TV is on...really, this list goes on an on. After each battle, most of the time I am not really sure who won.

Jimmy had 3 full blown tantrums in one day today. His tantrums are awful. Much worse than Paige's ever were. He rolls around the floor screaming. He will throw things, hit things. Scream at anyone that comes near him. He cannot be reasoned with under any circumstance. The worst part is, he will not stop. I don't like to give in to this kind of behavior, but he will go on for 30 minutes or more if I let him. I usually tell him if he is going to cry like that, he should go to his room. Most times he will do so. That was not the case today. Tantrum #1 was over the fact that he wanted to watch the Santa movie and I said no more TV. He stomps his foot and looks at me sternly, "YES! Santa movie!" I calmly reply, "sorry honey, we are not watching the Santa movie right now." That just fueled the fire...and on we go. I cannot even remember what Tantrum #2 was about because it was Tantrum #3 that took the cake.

I made a chicken and pasta bake for dinner. The kids normally wolf it down. Chicken, pasta and cauliflower, seasoned and baked in cheddar cheese with a parmesan cheese topping. Yum. Both kids rolled up to the table and got upset because they thought I was making macaroni and cheese, you know, from the box. "Sorry guys, this is what I made for dinner." Paige calmed down and ate most of her plate. Let the war begin. "I don't want this, I want the purple macaroni and cheese." Jimmy is now crying and screaming. He begins to push his mat around the table almost spilling his milk. I could tell he thought momentarily about picking up his plate and throwing it, but I was watching and I'm convinced he thought twice about that move. I moved his dinnerware out of the battlefield. "Honey, either eat dinner or get down and go cry in the other room." "NO!!" Then he hit his baby sister's hand away from him. She was sitting in the high next to him. I bolted up from the table and ripped him from his seat and put him on time out. "YOU DO NOT EVER HIT YOUR BABY SISTER!!!" I had to hold him in the chair with all my might for 2 minutes. After I let him go, still crying, he makes his way to the cabinet to pull out the box of what I am now supposed to make him for dinner. "Sorry bug, I am not making the mac n cheese. Come eat your dinner, please." He proceeded to continue his tantrum for the next 25 minutes. Paige and I ate dinner and Alyssa just stared at him rolling around on the floor with the box of mac n cheese in his hand. The poor box of Annie's White Chedder Mac N Cheese took a brutal beating, but managed to survive intact.

I love this child with my whole heart and soul. It breaks my heart when he is like this and it also works my last nerve. It is even harder to let him go on and on because I know I can't give in. He cannot think if he acts this way he will get what he wants.

The terrible three's should really be more popularized. My Google search proved that many parents deal more with the terrible threes than the twos. Add this to growing list of things I find a lot of parents don't talk about. I never read any books about parenting. I think they are all a load of bullshit. I believe in parenting from within. Do what you think is best for your child. For every child is different and only you know them the best.

Let's hope that tomorrow is a better day...