Testing, testing . . . .

Well the start to family life with three children has begun and on the whole has gone relatively smoothly, Beanie Boy is very laid back and just seems to take everything in his stride.  Curly has stepped into his role as the big, big brother very well and is both loving and protective towards his siblings.  I think he possibly finds it difficult stepping in and out of our family life as he is an only child at his Mum’s house.  He stays with us every other weekend from a Friday night to Monday morning.  By Sunday evening he has totally relaxed and slotted in but Friday nights and Saturday mornings we generally find him to be pretty quiet.  We just encourage him as best we can to join in with everyone else but without making too much of a big deal about it.

So that just leaves Little Bean!?!?!  Now where to start with her?  She’s 2 years and 4 months old so yes, you’ve guessed it, the terrible 2’s are well under way!  We are having daily episodes of high pitched squealing and screaming for mostly no apparent reason.  She is throwing herself on the floor and hitting out at anyone who comes within reaching distance of her.  The slightest little thing seems to set her off, if the programme that she is watching has a commercial break, if I don’t give her the right spoon for her yoghurt, if I heat her milk up for her nap, if I DON’T heat her milk up for her nap?!?!?!?  I’ve tried putting her on the naughty step which works for all of half an hour until the next episode.  I’ve tried ignoring the behaviour altogether but that doesn’t work, I’ve tried being sympathetic and to give her cuddles until she calms down but this just seems to fire her up even more.  The only thing that does seem to calm her down quickly is if Beanie Boy starts to cry or I tell her that he’s watching her – immediately she will stop what she is doing and give him a kiss and a cuddle.  Sometimes that will keep her calm for a while, others she will just revert straight back to her tantrum.

We are also getting lots of “I want this” “I want that” which is driving me up the wall because she is usually such a polite little girl and this makes her sound so rude.  Yesterday I had a plumber in the house to check the heating system (operator error!!) and the whole time that I was talking to him, Little Bean was hanging off my leg or running around the house shouting “I want cake Mummy”, “I want cake now” and then descending into a tantrum again.  I was so embarrassed!  I tried asking her calmly to just wait until I had finished talking to the man, I tried coming down to her level and telling her firmly that I wasn’t happy with her behaviour but nothing worked.  I just had to apologise profusely to the plumber.

Can anyone suggest ways of dealing with her tantrums?  I know that she is probably getting a little bored at the moment so we’ve been having lots of trips to the park and I’m still trying to do as much arts and crafts with her as I can but this just doesn’t seem to be enough?  I hate falling out with her and don’t want her to think that I’m shouting at her because of her new brother.  It’s really starting to get me down now, we’ve always had such a good relationship and I feel that its slipping away at the moment.

4 thoughts on “Testing, testing . . . .”

  1. It’ll pass… and until then, there are only two effective strategies in my experience: distraction and er, distraction. Hope that helps!

  2. It will pass (and return at odd intervals – sorry!) and you need not to be too hard on yourself. Distraction is the key plus making the most of anytime you get together without beanie boy.

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