Hellobee Boards

three was the last of her sweet stage! after four they just seem to get wittier and sassier and the manipulation begins.

I have been really enjoying 3!! We have so much more fun these days, he's my best little buddy. Two was a very difficult year for us, everything was a fight and tantrum with adjusting to a new brother and discovering just how many communication issues we had.

My DD turned 3 in August and it's definitely a mixed bag. On the one hand, I love how much of a real person she has become. She says and does the most amazing things. On the other hand- the mood swings, the tantrums, the not listening, the talking back...Whoever coined the term "threenager" was spot on! And it's pretty exhausting.

2 was pretty dang easy for us, and 3 (so far) isn’t too bad either. I really like this age, overall. YESSSSSSS to the term “threenager” – LO can get so sassy and moody and I swear she’s 14! I just have to internally roll my eyes a lot and then just move on with life.

She doesn’t really have blow-out meltdowns though, and it’s (often) easier to reason with her than with younger toddlers because she understands more and can really fully verbalize what she wants. On the other hand, there is much more bargaining that she tries to do than when she was younger and that can get really trying on your patience.

I still think that LO got out all her terrible-ness as an infant, so it’s not so bad now

3 is the. best. I love it. DS has his moments, but I loved 2 & 3 compared to 0-2. He is very emotional, but I find that to be not all that stressful because his verbal skills are so well developed, and I know him so well now, that when something is bothering him I totally know what is and why. (Whether it's always a rational meltdown is another story...) I think, overall, all the awesomeness of 2 & 3 outweighs the tantrums and emotional meltdowns-- he's so independent, he's so verbal, he's intellectually able to talk about more complex things (a little closer to talking to an adult!) he's funny and can actually (happily!) help around the house sometimes-- it's just fun to see him grow to be so capable. DS turns 4 this weekend and I'm having a tough time being ready with letting go of him being 3.

Every kid is different!

DS was a pretty easy 2 year old. He had a few bad weeks but nothing terrible. 3 was SO ROUGH. I struggled every day - and broke down in tears often. Just to give you an idea, he would run away from me all day, every day...in stores, the parking lot, he would even leave our house and run down the street (usually while I was trying to put his sister down for a nap or change her diaper). But he was pretty much okay at 4. And 5 was hard again. 6 is better...comparable with 4!

DD, on the other hand, was a harder 2 year old. She threw bigger tantrums than DS. She would scream and scream for so long. But she's an awesome 3 year old!! She listens, she's full of jokes, explains things really well, uses her manners, understands consequences if she does misbehave (which isn't often). I'm really enjoying the threes with her.