Thread: Where did my lovely boy go?

so baby tree was the easiest little creature in the world. Only woke every 4 hours from the second he was born and slept right throguh from about 6 weeks old. Lovely temperament and so laid back it was ridiculous.

Toddler tree is EVIL!!!!! In the space of 20 months my beautiful baby boy has turned into the devil incarnate. My days are spent listening to him scream at the top of his voice. It doesn't matter if he's laughing he still feels the need to scream. he throws himself all over in room every couple of minutes in defiance at well i don't know at what but obviously something has pissed him off!

He still needs naps but refuses to accept the fact. If I put him up for a nap he keeps himself awake and screams for god knows how long. if i don't put him up he gets himself so tired he just throws one long tantrum and starts headbutting the floor.

His understanding of the world is pretty fantastic. He can already sit and feed himself, he will then put his fork and spoon into his bowl and carry it out into the kitchen. He can open doors,help me with all the household tasks. Generally his physical capabilities are far better than other children his age.

His speech isn't as good as I'd like though. He can talk he just doesn't. When he feels like it he can throw out sentences that make sense eg when his dad was away he went into the kitchen to the garage door and shouted 'daddy daddy where you daddy' and has uttered lots of individual words but he just doesn't speak consistently. So if a HV asked me how many words he has i could say over 50 but he just does't use them on a regular basis.

I am now starting to wonder if his lack of speech is causing a lot of his frustration at the world. We don't let him have things unless he makes an effort at speech but he is so physically able a lot of the time he figures out a way to get whatever it is he wants himself.

Anyone got any tantrum taming tips?

All i can say is what the HV has suggested to me, my 2 yr is a nightmare when it comes to tantrums i've tried the naughty corner which was working up untill afew months ago.

Now the HV has told me to ignore the tantrums, just walk away and let them get on with it. I know its harder said than done. But it has started working now after god knows how many months.

As for talking i wouldn't worry if you are worrying. My brother was almost 4 when started talking properly. But toddler tree sounds like he's doing well for 50 words not many 20months can do that.

Hope it helps

This is interesting. My daughter is the same age (as you know) and she is a talker and not a doer (although she is more helpful around the house than my 10 year old). The tantrums are not really that bad from her unless you are trying to get her to say "please".

My son at their age was the same as yours and until he could speak well we got the tantrums regularly.

average of 10-20 words at that age, wouldn't worry, boys tend to learn how to speak, slower than girls aparently.

Terrible 2's are laying the pavement to horrific 3's

Trick is not to react to the tantrums, kids read our facial expressions, so telling a toddler off but smiling, isn't going to do anything. Toddlers can play their parents like fiddles

hugs x

Ooh heck, it's a long time since I had a toddler, although Jack my Grandson did have the occasional paddy in his 2's. This was a shock to everyone as he'd always been so good to that point, almost angelic. I do remember him throwing himself on the living room floor one day, screaming in temper and banging his fists and feet. My OH, promptly threw himself on the floor next to him and did exactly the same. Jack suddenly stopped screaming, looked at his Grandad, sat up, looked round the room to realise no one was even looking at him, dusted himself off in disgust and went back to his toys...

I was struggling not to laugh at the time, but he didn't do it again (to me anyway) whether he realised he wasn't getting the attention and therefore it wasn't worth the effort I don't know.

Mind you, it would be a little harder to do this in Tesco, than in the living room...

This is familiar! DS is almost 2 and a half and is just starting to come out of the tantrum phase because he can finally say some words! He's speaking a lot later than DD did and most of it is gibberish but we've had his hearing checked and come to the conclusion it's because DD runs around after him and speaks for him so he doesn't need to bother. He's only really started talking since DD went back to school in Sept.

Been there with the headbanging - it's just frustration and will stop. Just try and make sure he's safe (no fire surrounds etc) and then leave him to it. He'll get bored when you ignore him.

DS refused to go for a nap in his room and started breaking the safety gate off the door to escape. He now has a nap on the sofa downstairs and I can even vacuum round him without him waking up. He is needing naps less and less now though and I remember DD packed them in completely at a similar age.

He's very advanced physically and like Toddler tree he loves helping with household tasks. Have acquired a little play kitchen off a friend and he likes to cook on that now when I'm cooking - that used to be a tantrum time cos he didn't have my attention.

The screaming? I'm just resigned to having given birth to a pterodactyl

x

We've had to tell big tree over and over again about speaking for toddler tree and we've finally got to a point where he now joins in with trying to help him speak instead of doing it for him but god that was hard going!

The other problem with the tantrums is the big tree is very protective of his little brother and is a natural born worrier. During the day while he's at school the tantrums are ignored and over with much more quickly. But when big tree witnesses a tantrum (especially the headbanging ones) he panics and goes to him or keeps shouting at us that toddler tree is hurt when we know he isn't. It makes the whole situation a lot more stressful and when mr tree is away it becomes a nightmare trying to take big trees mind of toddlers tantrum and keep one eye on toddler to make sure he isn't actually going to give himself a concussion!

We are experimenting with sending him to bed later. He had been going quite early because he was tired by then but recently he has been waking up between half five and six so last night we put him up at around 7 and he woke just after 8 and fingers crossed is in a much better mood so far even if he is currently crawling around my dining table with one of his cars (yes he is half child half monkey) he isnt screaming or throwing a tantrum so its all good!

We're off to coffee morning in half an hour to give him chance to run around and wear himself out so hopefully naptime will be a bit easier too.

ST - you are forgetting the 'procedure for bring up children Mk1'

First two years are spent teaching them to walk and talk.

The remaining 18+ years until they leave home are spent telling them to shut up and sit down!!!