The nightmare 3!

The 'terrible 2' is a terminology that all parents are very familiar with, especially for those with kids who are aged 2 or above.

You know it is the terrible 2 not only when your toddler blows off 2 candles on the birthday cake and keep requesting to blow again, but also when they throw tantrums if they don't get to do it.

I have been there, gone through that, and am now facing a more horrifying experience than the terrible 2.. I'd like to call it the 'nightmare 3'.

Rianne's 3 now, and very active. So much so that my sister suspects she might be hyper-active. Her favourite game/trick at the moment is to hide away. She finds amazing spots in the house and hide there for a long time until we find her. You will find her at the drying rack beside the fridge with her face covered with the hand cloth, on the sofa all buried under cushions, or amidst her toy baskets and even hiding near my fan camouflaging as one of my many bags of stuff.

Another one thing she enjoy doing is spinning herself round and round, gets giddy and then fall to the floor. Worse, she will just knock onto a cupboard as she falls, and end up with a huge bruise on her forehead! She has got more bruises these days, and I am worried as they are often on the head.

The nightmare 3 also includes bad behaviour and extreme tantrums like hurling abuse at people.. and in Rianne's case, the abuse is physical.

It is common to get slapped on the face, or kicked at your legs when Rianne is pissed with you. Annie Mummy always scream at the top of her voice when her face gets scratched or slapped by naughty Rianne, as her facial skin is really thin now; and so the pain is for sure unbearable. I try to refrain from physical punishment and approach this 'dangerous' issue with Rianne in the most child-appropriate manner I can. However, it doesn't seem to register in Rianne's head no matter how many times she's being put on time-out at the naughty chair. The form teacher at Rianne's class once communicated to me that they are practising the time-out punishment at school, so it will be great if the approach can stay consistent at home as well.

I can continue listing down the nightmare 3 experiences (maybe in another post), but I'm pretty sure you daddies & mommies out there are praying hard now that your 3 year old toddler will not be like Ms Rianne, my nightmare!