I have 3 children. Why is my youngest the hardest of the lot? I thought I was emotionally and mentally prepared to deal with my youngest child as she moved out of the baby phase and into the toddler phase. I've done it twice before, once with a girl and once with a boy, I figured I was pretty good to go. I didn't account for the fact that my children are all completely different. Rookie mistake. I thought that our lives were hard 5 months ago when we started potty training her and she was purposefully having accidents just because she didn't want to take the time to go to the bathroom. And when she completely regressed in speech for no apparent reason and refused to use actual words for weeks at a time. I thought it was hard when her appetite started to change and refused to eat anything but spaghetti. Then she turned 3 and our lives have been thrown into the tornado that is my youngest child.
She is still doing all of the above mentioned things (not to the same extent thank goodness) but now we've added getting out of bed repeatedly all night long. Not wanting to go to bed at all. Refusing to let her siblings out of the car with out a password (I have no idea), she argues with me about everything from what she wears that day to going to the grocery store. The only thing I can think of is that she is a complete control freak. She is using any means and situation at her disposal to exert control over her life. I realize it is my job as her parent to set boundaries and see that people adhere to said boundaries. We got through it with the other two and I know that we'll get through it with her but man I feel like I'm taking a very small very irritating beating. The sleep issues have been the worst and hardest to deal with. I am not prepared to be a happy mom in the middle of the night. We have a set bedtime routine (that she is continually trying to add to so she won't have to go to sleep) we are very very careful about the media that our children view because of nightmare issues and we got her a clock that lights up when she's allowed to wake up for the day. None of the things have helped her stay in bed all night. So then we decided to let her sleep in her older brother's room. He was very sweet with her and was very willing to allow her to sleep on a little mattress on the floor. It worked for a little while but it didn't permanently solve the problem. After a week or two she was back up and in our room at least a few times a week.
Last week we decided that enough was enough and she's now back in her own room. I got a copy of the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and the last resort is to buy a lock for their door and say goodnight and lock them in their room. Well we have reached the end of our ropes. So I spoke to her pediatrician and he assured me that as long as there wasn't anyway she could hurt herself and that we explained the situation to her she would be fine. He even admitted to doing the same thing to his daughter when she was 3. Well we have started out slowly by showing her the child proof lock and explaining that she can choose to have the door open by staying in bed or she can choose to have the door closed by getting up. For the last 3 nights we have had to shut the door because she is the most stubborn girl in the universe. Once at bedtime, once at 3 am and last night at 12:30. I think we have reached a you have lost your choice to have the door open mindset and will just have to keep her door closed from the get go. Sigh.
My girl is an exceptionally advanced communicator and processor. Which almost makes it worse. Because I know she's playing me for the fool that I am. I love my baby girl and this whole terrible twos thunderous threes is killing my heart. Why is part of parenthood forcing our children to do hard things? And yes I realize that there will be many more difficulties to come. No wonder I can't sleep at night...
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