Had to laugh…

I get developmental milestone updates via email from babycentre.com, I always find them an interesting read.

Anyway, had to laugh at the one I got this morning, particularly in my sleep deprived state after only having had 3hrs sleep last night — partly my own fault, I was up late paying bills and doing the pays for the store designers. (I hate going to bed when stuff like that isn’t done!) Of course also Kyan’s fault who decided it would be a good idea to wake at 2.30am.

Anyway, I digress!

This is the update I got this morning… couldn’t be more appropriate for Kyan…

Just when you think you have your toddler all figured out, he can turn the tables on you. Even the most mild-mannered 13-month-olds will experiment with … how shall we say it? … undesirable behavior. If your normally happy-go-lucky toddler suddenly starts screaming, yelling, biting, and hitting, you can take some solace in knowing that his development is right on track. But that doesn’t make it much easier to deal with. Unfortunately, traditional discipline tactics don’t work very well for this age group, so between keeping your toddler out of the cat food and coping with tantrums, try to take a parent break. You may have to schedule it in advance, but building in some free time for yourself each week is the best way to refuel your patience tank 

Mind you, I don’t think I have ever figured this toddler out… Jasmine yes, but Kyan is a constant mystery! Thankfully he doesn’t bite or hit, but screaming and yelling are big favourites of his and there basically is no way to stop him from doing it.. we have tried everything..(well apart from smacking him which I will not do as I don’t believe smacking is a necessary form of dicipline) He is also extremely adept at throwing a good old fashioned tantrum.. thankfully not yet the kicking and screaming on the floor type tantrums but he knows how to let out a good yelling cry when he doesn’t get his way. He is also quite partial to cat food. We have now resorted to keeping it in the laundry.. the cat in his old age needs reminding sometimes that it is there, but at least Kyan can’t reach it now.

At least his screaming and yelling is just a developmental thing and should pass once he is better able to express himself with words. The tantrums don’t phase me, they are just irritating, particularly when you have company.

Obviously he is still to young to understand the concept of the time out corner… but I am looking forward to using it when he is old enough as it works brilliantly for Jasmine. She HATES it. But at least that means we don’t have to use it very often, as often the threat of her having to go in there is enough to get her to pull into line. If it isn’t, in she goes and after a few minutes of throwing a tantrum there, she is always ready to apologise and come out and do as we ask.

On the weekend, she played up at the swimming pool after Kyan’s swimming lesson. I was trying to dress Kyan and she was trying to play with him while I did so and it made it difficult to dress him so I asked her to stop, and she smacked me! It was only a light defiant, knee jerk reaction type smack but a smack nonetheless.  I think it is a result of the rough play she and Kyan have been doing lately. Anyway, since there was no timeout corner handy and she had been asking to go to the bakery, Dean took her straight out to the car while I finished dressing Kyan and no bakery for her. That was more than enough to get the message across! She was not very happy at the prospect of missing out on a treat.

She has been getting a lot more confident and outgoing lately, and it is showing not only in her play and how she interacts with people in a positive way, but also in how she behaves at home. She is also testing the bounderies a lot, and has started talking back at times. So we are hoping to nip that in the bud pretty quick before it gets worse.  She is a little more moody than she has been previously. Probably because she is no longer having day naps, and if she has a late night or a full on day, it really shows. We will have to be a bit more vigilant getting her to bed on time etc and making sure she has a rest after lunchtime watching a movie or something.

She also gets bored when there are holidays from Kinday. She so loves kindy and being able to play with her friends and all the extra stimulation she gets there.

Well you can tell when I haven’t had much sleep, I do start rambling! Had better go, Kyan is tugging at my arm… probably time for him to have a nap anyway…