Need a quick pep talk before naptime is over!

OK, my 3 yr is making me insane, and it's making me be a grouchy mommy to all my kids!! I need to get out of this funk. Of course, my grouchiness in unfair to H & N and only makes Rachel that much worse. I don't know what has gotten in to this chiild. It like it's her goal this week to be as difficult as possible. She won't eat at mealtimes, then cries later that she is hungry. Last night we went out to dinner, she ate maybe five or six bites, then was "done". The second she was buckled in her carseat, she started whining about being hungry. This morning, refused to eat breakfast, then 5 minutes in to a 20 min ride started crying because she was hungry :angry: She won't use the potty, although she has the PT since September, she holds it all morning because she still gets a diaper at nap/rest time. She immediately needs changed again as soon as I have her in her diaper, then she does the same thing all afternoon - just waits until ashe has her bedtime diaper on. Right now she is napping for the first time in a week. So I think partly she has been overtired. But she has been screaming bloody murder at naptime, keeping H & N up, and so I have been letting her just have "quiet time", which results in tears & whining all afternoon/evening because she really needed a nap!! What happened to my sweet child?!

ETA: I find that I hold a grudge against her and continue to be mad about her irritating behavior long after she has forgotten about it(which probably happens in 5 seconds - right?) Any tips for "starting the day over"?

 

Is there any chance she might have a little tummy bug? I am not kidding when I tell you that I had similar issues with food when I wasn't feeling quite right. At meal times I felt like if I ate on bite it would come back up but an hour or so later I was starving. If I didn't eat at the moment of starvation then I was back to the not wanting anything to eat again.

The only thing I can think of for a pep talk is to ask (and I am going to mean this generally not specifically to you) is to ask why we hold on to the negative things that happen. For example, we remember our children have done 3 things bad today, the negative things accumulate but the positive things tend to stay individual. We praise them for the individual things but if they have another positive thing it isn't like we think, wow that is 3 things today that have been great. I would try to focus on keeping the negatives individual and allow the positives to accumulate. I hope that makes sense!!!

 

all i can say is i can relate.. for me starting the day over is 5 minutes to myself with god..
ask for his strength..
then brush my teeth , because its easier to smile with clean teeth and go..
enjoy your new day.

 

:love0028:

I was thinking tummy bug too. Or if she is holding in her pee and she normally doesn't, maybe a UTI? Has she been acting any different otherwise? Is 3 old enough enough to tell you if she doesn't feel good? I'm so clueless about older toddlers.. sorry!

Big hugs! I hope that after nap time is better for everyone.

 

If she isn't sick....it may just be a case of "being 3 ". There is loads of testing boundries at that age. Most people find it to be the terrible 3's instead of terrible 2's. I think it happens to all children at that age. The degree of it just varies due to different personalities. I have one VERY strong willed child. He did his best to push the limits...wanting to call the shots during his this first half of his 3's. I had many days that I needed a pep talk.

In our case, DH and I banded together and laid out the ground rules and the consquences for not following the rules. We held firm as best we could and things did improve. We read a couple books that helped. Our son will always be strong willed but at least we feel better adapted to handling how to react to him and be in control of the situation.

Hang in there, hopefully for you, its just a passing quick phase.