A week of regression and aggression. Let’s just put that out in the baby book right now. This was not a banner week. This was a week of Three all over again. Just before Five, Peanut’s Three all over again.
Full meltdown tantrums lasting at least a half hour each because:
1) He wanted the baby to watch him play, not touch anything, and not go away to do something else.
2) He wanted to get back in the bath after shrieking “I want to get out” for five minutes during the “wash yourself, please, or I’ll wash you” debate.
3) He didn’t want to go outside at all but he wanted to go to school. I get the problem; I do not get the long tantrum.
Sweet and adorable-to-surly ratio bordered on teen this week.
And when I had a rough day, he walked into the living room and proclaimed, “Mom, I think your brain is breaking. You gave me cheese but no crackers.”
NaptimeWriting 
I’m living the hellish three right this very instant….feeling your pain.
Jen, is your brain breaking, too? I saw video of us at Two and realize how much nicer, more wiley, and more patient I was. Three broke most of me. Including my brain.
Oh Nap! You have a broken brain too? I am not surprising he is regressing to go forward. You have to gather some momentum to sprint ahead of five. Here’s to hoping you remember the crackers (with the cheese) next time…;)
I hear five is magical…here’s hoping your brain can make it til then. We are here for you!!! Okay maybe I should omit the exclamation points, you probably don’t need anymore yelling…
Have you read Mommy Mantras: Affirmations and Insights to Keep You From Losing Your Mind by Bethany Casarjian and Diane Dillon? A must. It WILL help you.
“You gave me cheese but no crackers”
Did you give him the can o’ cheese?
Did you say, “I’ll give you crackers, you little ingrate!”? ‘Cause that might have come out of my mouth on a bad day. Well, not really. But I certainly would have thought it. ;)
@Fie, I laughed and said, “you’re right. My brain might be breaking. Because I *just* said I’d give you cheese and crackers, but left the kitchen to do other things right after the cheese.” If his tone were different, I would have held him down and shoved the crackers into his gaping maw.
@jc I wish. I gave him a plate with blueberry goat cheese, a butter knife, and a napkin. That’s all. I’ll do spray cheese next time.
@MacDougal consider it on my list.
@Yuliya Peanut calls exclamation points “surprise”. He asked me, “what does B-I-U-D-O-Surprise spell?” He reads letters upside down and had seen bingo! and wanted to know what the surprise mark was for.
@Maria, I’ll hang onto the thought that regression helps forward motion. I like that. The memory I can’t hang onto, though. It’s gone.
Feeling your pain. I have an almost 5-year-old myself that seems to be desperately grasping onto this 3-year-old self! 5 made it better for my older son. I’m hoping my younger finds the same peace – for me!!!
Now that I’m officially mother to two children who have been or are 5 I can tell you with absolute certainty that 5 is the worst age so far (I can’t speak to what happens at or after 8, though). Hang in there. And maybe consider canned cheese?
Oh, Jen, not really! Really? *You* hang in there. Geez, I can’t imagine. We’re having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad bedtime over here and I keep thinking, “What is this? This was Three. When do I get Five?” If your answer is “run from Five!” I don’t know what to do!
Canned cheese it is.