Two going on Thirteen?

[expatmama]

So despite being a Mom of 2, I am new to this 2 year old tantrum business. DS1 has thrown about 5 tantrums in his life (yes these kids do exist). And I am trying to keep calm and deal with this constructively, but OMG.

DS2 currently wakes up a lot during the night (he is late to teething, and generally has always been a terrible sleeper). He then comes with these insane requests - BREAKFAST! (It's 2 am!) WE WILL ROCK YOU! (not exactly soothing music, but fine if it will get him back down -- and no the lullaby version will NOT do), THE YELLOW PIECE OF LEGO HE WAS PLAYING WITH BEFORE BED (Of course he does not actually say this it's more like 'BUILD BUILD' and we struggle to figure out just what he is talking about). 

We are all exhausted and eager for sleep. Anyone else in the same boat? I am holding on to my 'This too shall pass' mantra, and thankfully DH and I have been playing tag team thru all of this, which keeps us somewhat sane. But SERIOUSLY kid, when do you sleep? 

[laketide]

DD throws about 5 tantrums a day.... I have a love hate relationship with 2 so far. The good days are wonderful and so sweet but the bad days make me long for those 1 year old days when she was so easy.

[puck1182]

My main takeaway from this was: THERE'S A LULLABY VERSION OF "WE WILL ROCK YOU"?!?!

Although I'm not one to talk. For the longest time, this was DD's lullaby of choice:

youtu.be/mEyrfFwf3rI

[dc2london]

Yeah uhhhhhhhh I lock his bedroom door from the outside and if he wakes up in the night I let him cry for 5 minutes before I intervene. He never cries for more than 1 or 2 minutes.

[dc2london]

I think I'm mean lol

[byebyebooze]

Feb 5, 2015 20:30:46 GMT -5 dc2london said:

Yeah uhhhhhhhh I lock his bedroom door from the outside and if he wakes up in the night I let him cry for 5 minutes before I intervene. He never cries for more than 1 or 2 minutes.

Same as DC. We have a video monitor and if DD isn't standing up crying, I don't go in. If she doesn't care enough to get up, neither do I. It took a while to get to this point, but she has needed me to come in maybe twice in the last 6 months.

[aydee]

Feb 5, 2015 20:53:31 GMT -5 byebyebooze said:

Feb 5, 2015 20:30:46 GMT -5 dc2london said:

Yeah uhhhhhhhh I lock his bedroom door from the outside and if he wakes up in the night I let him cry for 5 minutes before I intervene. He never cries for more than 1 or 2 minutes.

Same as DC. We have a video monitor and if DD isn't standing up crying, I don't go in. If she doesn't care enough to get up, neither do I. It took a while to get to this point, but she has needed me to come in maybe twice in the last 6 months.

That sounds like heaven. Wow. I can't imagine only having to get up twice in the last 6 months. Between the 2 kids, I celebrate if I'm able to get more than 1 night of uninterrupted sleep each week. Maybe I need a video monitor!

[expatmama]

Feb 5, 2015 19:01:17 GMT -5 puck1182 said:

My main takeaway from this was: THERE'S A LULLABY VERSION OF "WE WILL ROCK YOU"?!?!

Although I'm not one to talk. For the longest time, this was DD's lullaby of choice:

youtu.be/mEyrfFwf3rI

Yes, it is on the Rock n Roll Lullaby series (a god awful creation of rock songs transformed into bad sewage weird lullaby things) - you can find it on YouTube. So yes, I am a bit impressed that DS2 did not consider that We Will Rock You because he is correct, on the other hand he really digs the Enter Sandman one. Sometimes you do what you gotta do.

He prefers the Axl Rose one. My kids LOVE We Will Rock You so out of desperation I think I have test driven every single version available on You Tube that looks reasonably legit because the 87th time you want to pull your hair out.

[expatmama]

Feb 5, 2015 20:30:46 GMT -5 dc2london said:

Yeah uhhhhhhhh I lock his bedroom door from the outside and if he wakes up in the night I let him cry for 5 minutes before I intervene. He never cries for more than 1 or 2 minutes.

I am jealous, would love to do this, but we recently moved DS2 into his big brothers room and if he wakes up his brother things take on epic proportions. 

In his defense, it turned out last night he was sick, but obvs we need to find a better way to deal with this.

[wolfpack]

Since it's 330am and I am up for the day. I can understand. We've tried sooooo many things. she will not go back to sleep on her own. She get out of bed a pounds on her door till we can come get her. when we tried CIO she would get so upset she would puke. (Seriously in about 10min). Anyways I'm sorry this is so bitchy it's 330am and I might have gotten 3 hours of sleep. Not exactly a happy camper.

[sagen]

This is why I am too scared to wean, even if people think I am a gross weirdo (I don't agree) because nursing in the middle of the night knocks him out. I shutter to think of a 3:30 am wake up, that sucks wolfpack. In the day is has got plenty of tantrums for me!

[expatmama]

Feb 6, 2015 3:40:53 GMT -5 wolfpack said:

Since it's 330am and I am up for the day. I can understand. We've tried sooooo many things. she will not go back to sleep on her own. She get out of bed a pounds on her door till we can come get her. when we tried CIO she would get so upset she would puke. (Seriously in about 10min). Anyways I'm sorry this is so bitchy it's 330am and I might have gotten 3 hours of sleep. Not exactly a happy camper.

I feel your pain. DS2 ended up sleeping with us last night because I just could not keep getting out of bed every time. DH moved him back at around 4 and I told him it was 'at his own risk', after two attempts to get him down, he came back in with DS2. But that is a rare night indeed.... 

[ally2011]

Have you tried being in the room but not engaging?  Like sitting in a chair and saying "it is bedtime, go to sleep" and then just hanging out and repeating that as necessary?  We are working on getting dd to fall asleep in her new big girl bed and are having to do that right now.  Though she's been in our bed all week b/c of sickness so we are probably no help....I would rather run the risk of a couple bad nights than have a week of no sleep.  Tonight will be a fight probably when she goes back, but maybe not.   

[expatmama]

Feb 6, 2015 11:20:29 GMT -5 ally2011 said:

Have you tried being in the room but not engaging?  Like sitting in a chair and saying "it is bedtime, go to sleep" and then just hanging out and repeating that as necessary?  We are working on getting dd to fall asleep in her new big girl bed and are having to do that right now.  Though she's been in our bed all week b/c of sickness so we are probably no help....I would rather run the risk of a couple bad nights than have a week of no sleep.  Tonight will be a fight probably when she goes back, but maybe not.   

Oh yes, he is the two year old dictator. He will just scream 'there there there there' at where he wants you to sit and 'hand, hand hand hand' when he wants to hold your hand and it does not end. Or at least I tend to go from the room in tears after about 15 minutes of being screamed at in a high pitched voice --- thankfully DH and I tag team it most nights.

So now I do 'if you lie down and be quiet I will sit there and hold your hand -- but if you keep going then I will go sit in the chair across the room. It works OK.... 

[fishes]

Feb 6, 2015 14:41:48 GMT -5 @sterling said:

Feb 6, 2015 13:50:19 GMT -5 expatmama said:

Oh yes, he is the two year old dictator. He will just scream 'there there there there' at where he wants you to sit and 'hand, hand hand hand' when he wants to hold your hand and it does not end. Or at least I tend to go from the room in tears after about 15 minutes of being screamed at in a high pitched voice --- thankfully DH and I tag team it most nights.

So now I do 'if you lie down and be quiet I will sit there and hold your hand -- but if you keep going then I will go sit in the chair across the room. It works OK.... 

They must take lessons somewhere to learn this behavior, right? Is there toddler dictator school they are enrolled in? My son sounds just like yours, I have no advice. But I hear, "no mommy! Sit over there!!" often.

Yes! "Mommy sit floor too!" Umm. Dude kid, I'm kinda huge right now. Or "this couch!" not that couch, noooo we can't sit on that couch. Not for another five minutes.


The most recent one is trying to drag me by a finger or my pants to wherever it is he wants to go, "mommy come! Commmmmme!!!!!" And, meltdown. Usually when I'm trying to eat.

[fishes]

The part that frustrates me the most about this stage is that he is so good at communicating when he wants to be, and yet every day he gives at least one big whine/cry/scream fest and I can't figure out why because it's just very loud and very unhappy noise. No help at all from him. It's like one thing goes wrong (and I will never know what it is) and then suddenly EVERYTHING is all wrong and nothing can fix it.

[expatmama]

Feb 6, 2015 23:54:15 GMT -5 fishes said:

The part that frustrates me the most about this stage is that he is so good at communicating when he wants to be, and yet every day he gives at least one big whine/cry/scream fest and I can't figure out why because it's just very loud and very unhappy noise. No help at all from him. It's like one thing goes wrong (and I will never know what it is) and then suddenly EVERYTHING is all wrong and nothing can fix it.

This. So much THIS. DS2 is late to get teeth, and DS1 had an ear infection last week. So when DS2 wakes up very upset in the middle of the night, I want to make sure he does not need any medicine or anything. And he is 100% capable of explaining that he is not feeling well in the middle of the day. But in the middle of the night he will eventually try to explain that "The back of his knee hurts" or "his toes hurt" ---- which basically gives me nothing to go on. 

[fishes]

Feb 7, 2015 17:13:29 GMT -5 expatmama said:

Feb 6, 2015 23:54:15 GMT -5 fishes said:

The part that frustrates me the most about this stage is that he is so good at communicating when he wants to be, and yet every day he gives at least one big whine/cry/scream fest and I can't figure out why because it's just very loud and very unhappy noise. No help at all from him. It's like one thing goes wrong (and I will never know what it is) and then suddenly EVERYTHING is all wrong and nothing can fix it.

This. So much THIS. DS2 is late to get teeth, and DS1 had an ear infection last week. So when DS2 wakes up very upset in the middle of the night, I want to make sure he does not need any medicine or anything. And he is 100% capable of explaining that he is not feeling well in the middle of the day. But in the middle of the night he will eventually try to explain that "The back of his knee hurts" or "his toes hurt" ---- which basically gives me nothing to go on. 

I never get an answer. It's usually the middle of the day, did you drop something? Did you want milk/something to eat? I just get more tears, and louder crying. I might hand him his water or milk or whatever and he'll push it away. Until after many more tears, eventually he might croak out, "milk" or throw himself at the fridge and then the episode might end.

or, I might stick him in his crib and for some reason that stops the waterworks. Or I've started bribing  distracting him with citrus. "Here, eat an orange. Or a dried mango."

[dc2london]

We are having issues getting into and out of the car. It takes us FOREVER to go anywhere because he wants to climb into the seat himself, then he decides he would like to sit in the front seat (obviously he can't), but he plants himself on the console between the driver and passenger seats and no amount of cajoling, tickling, playing, bribing, etc will get him to just sit his bum in his car seat and let me buckle him. I quite often end up forcing him into his seat admid screams and thrashing. It's fun.