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If twos are "terrible" what are 3 year olds?
Filed under: Toddlers Preschoolers, Preschoolers, Development/Milestones: Babies
I ask, because my almost-three-year-old has become rather bossy of late. Well, maybe not bossy, but certainly very opinionated and determined.
Exhibit A: We're playing with blocks. We've built a firehouse, and I'm absentmindedly balancing blocks into towers while he's fiddling with his toy fire truck. And then out of the blue, "NO MOMMY! Dat doesn't go der. It goes here, like dis," he says, promptly disassembling whatever I've built and then reassembling it with unremarkable (if any) differences. Okay then.
Exhibit B: We're eating breakfast and I reach over to his plate to cut his omelet into smaller pieces. "NOOOO! I need to do it. I need a knife and I'm gonna cut my eggs," howls indignantly. "Stop cutting, Mama!" So I do, and then he climbs down from his chair and runs to the silverware drawer (which, gasp, he can reach and open all by himself now) and fishes out his tiny little knife that was originally used to spread soft cheeses. Then he proceeds to re-cut each piece I already cut for him. "I need to cut it like dis!" he proclaims.
So I'm wondering, if two's are considered "Terrible" what are threes? Independent? Opinionated? Bossy? All of the above? What was/is your child like at the age of three?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
12-12-2007 @ 10:49AM
Courtney said...Twos are an easy blessing compared to three's. Whoever said two's were the hardest lied.
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12-12-2007 @ 10:59AM
Joy said...I am very different from the norm here I think. From what I seem to read from others anyhow. I just LOVE this age. From where Bean and Nolan are up until about 5. I just love it and wish right now I could freeze time since my last grandchild was 3 in July.
I love all these "firsts." Like you said of him being able to open the drawer himself and get a knife. I love that they are so honest and genuine. Once they start school, something happens and your not the center of the universe anymore.
I never thought the 2's were terrible. When you think about it, they learn so much right now that you can almost see it. From potty training to sleeping in a big bed, to learning numbers and some, to read. You can see them changing every day but they still have that innocence. They are gaining independence but yet they still need you and aren’t afraid or inhibited to come climb in your lap and snuggle when things get tough.
Please enjoy this time. It will never come again and he loves you more than anything.
Reply
12-13-2007 @ 7:46AM
Sandyone said...Yeah...great advice! I think that the Terrible Twos are better in retrospect, when they're not so frustrating. Now that I have experience, I enjoy these young stages so very much. I can see them for the development and I know it's not personal.
12-12-2007 @ 11:52AM
mckenna said...Yep, stubborn and/or opinionated. That's my 3 yo. It's like the combination of language acquisition and wanting to be grown up collide. Now that he knows how the world works, he wants to see how much he can affect things. He seems to turn down some foods he used to gobble up just because he can now. We've had alot of discussions lately on how to be polite, when he gets that bossy tone. Almost everything starts off with "Hey! I want...."
I still like it much better than twos (far fewer all out tantrums bc now he just asserts himself with language rather than yelling - even if it is bossy). I love that he gets his own cup and fills it with water all on his own, all nonchalant, like "what? You're surprised by this?" I also love that he is so up for helping (ie: carrying his own bag or lunchbox to school, ... like a big boy!). Although we're still having trouble with picking up toys: it indicates the end of fun, I think.
Interestingly, mine has also begun to see some things aren't worth the fight (if we're butting heads over something) and will just say "ok, mommy." (Leaving me going, "huh?!") BTW: I would probably take less offense to wanting to cut his own eggs, than to the blocks thing. I think that's adorable!
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12-12-2007 @ 11:54AM
kate said...eeevvviiiillllll. ; )
but (once mommy got medicated) we lived through it and she's now a thoroughly delightful independent, bossy, opinionated 7yo.
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12-12-2007 @ 11:59AM
Allie said...terrible twos...trying threes. Whoever coined the phrase "terrible twos" did so only because they hadn't made it to the threes yet.
Reply
12-12-2007 @ 12:33PM
Amanda said...Allie that's cute, trying threes!
I have taught my daughter (almost 3 herself) when someone asks her how old she is to reply with "I'm terrible two" and she holds up two fingers. The look on people's faces is hysterical!
She also has a t-shirt that says "I'm 2, you've been warned"
She really is not bad at all and I would like to think that my calm responses to her antics have helped us to work through this very trying time. She is very advanced as far as speech so she is able to communicate to me what she wants and needs a lot better than most two year olds, that helps a lot!
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12-12-2007 @ 1:14PM
Lee said...A while back, Moxie had a great review of a book called "Your Three-Year-Old: Friend or Enemy" by Louise Bates Ames, PhD and Frances L. Ilg, MD.
My favourite quote from her review:
"Recognizing this fact, you will if at all possible enlist the services of a good baby-sitter for as much of the time as possible"
http://leesvoice.blogspot.com/2007/11/advice-to-parents-of-3-year-olds.html
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12-12-2007 @ 4:45PM
Jill said...I will live through age three. I will live through age three. I will live through age three.....
But I might go crazy in the meanwhile.
Three is: opinionated, argumentative, fascinating, independent, amazing, annoying, stubborn, bossy, and adorable.
I will probably miss it when we're done, but I still want it to be done!
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12-13-2007 @ 7:46AM
Sandyone said...My mother-in-law clued me in on this one. My oldest was precocious and reached the Terrible Twos rather early (seems that most kids do!). I was talking about his antics (okay, complaining about his behavior) and my mother in law, in a very comforting voice, said, "Oh, don't worry, Sandy. The Terrible Twos will be over soon." Then, in one of those evil grin voices, she added, "They he'll be in the Threatening Threes!!!"
My youngest just turned three and this child NEEDS a little brother or sister! It was just the thing to straighten *her* sister out and I'm praying that April will bring me a new baby and a "new" three year old. Someday, I'm going to have to stop having babies, but I don't know how I'm going to "unspoil" my youngest!!
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