Being mouthy !

The boys will be 3 in December. Why am I still telling Jack to take things out of his mouth bc they aren't food?!?! It annoys the heck out of me! He chews on wrappers, toys, the rubber ends of their forks/spoons...pretty much anything if he's bored and not playing with it goes in his mouth! Is this normal? Both of them were really big "mouthers" as babies but JT doesn't do it as much...actually I can't remember the last time I told him to take something non edible out of his mouth.

Also, they have really good speech and a very large vocabulary...and I hear it! All. Day. Long! They can be so mouthy and yelling about the simplest things! I actually have on video Jack growling at Hannah "Noo, Sweetie! My tractor!" Really Jack?! :nea:
How do you teach them to calm down and relax over the littlest things? We are working really hard to make them say things politely. For example instead of "I want my vitamin!" we make them say "Can I have my vitamin please?" Sometimes its not what they are saying, just how they are saying it!

 

This is a big issue we have with my son and daughter. What we've been doing and it works most of the time is telling them what you are telling your boys. They do not get the item they are asking for unless they ask in a nice voice and politely.
As for the stuff in the mouth, I would tell him he cannot have those things in his mouth and keep on him about it. My DD went through a fingers in the mouth stage a few months ago :wacko: and I had to keep reminding her about the fingers in the mouth. I did notice that she seemed to do in situations where she was feeling nervous.

 

Some kids are really oral, and chewing is their way of blowing off steam. If you want him not to chew on certain things, can you get one of those sensory chewers (google search) that he can use if he thinks he needs it? Way back in the day, my brother was a total chewer. My mom gave him an old baby teether when he was four or five and he'd randomly chew on it when overstimulated or stressed. He's now a 33 year old productive member of society... and as far as I know he doesn't chew on random things. =)

As for the mouthiness... around 3 we started with 'try again'. Any time my girls demanded something rather than asking nicely, I'd just simply say 'try again' and ignore the demand until it was phrased appropriately. We still struggle with this sometimes, but it only took a week or two for my girls to realize that demands weren't going to get them anywhere.

 

Have you checked his pen cup at work? Chomp chomp.

 

We tell the kids to use their inside voices (instead of yelling). When they don't say please, we ask them to try again using nice words. If that doesn't work, we ignore them until they figure out how to ask politely. They slowly catch on and I have seen an improvement, but it feels like you are constantly reminding them about these things.

 

I asked the pediatrician about this at our 3 year check-up. She said DS was a very active boy and she was not too concerned as it was just his way of exploring things. We keep reminding him not to chew on things and if it is dangerous (too small) we take the toy away. So, I would say yes, it is normal.