Terrible twos!

Now that I've unified my blog, I can write a little update on how my big boy is doing these days.

Jamie is 2 years 4 months old now. He seemed to cope really well with the arrival of his little sis, he's very loving towards her, gives her kisses and cuddles (although sometimes his cuddles are a bit *too* loving and veer towards strangulation...!) So I was patting myself on the back about how well I'd done coping with a toddler and a newborn.

And then, the terrible twos hit! Just in the past couple of weeks, he has started throwing his toys and hitting me if he's told no, or stopped from doing something he wants to. Yesterday we were at a group, I was sitting at the side of the room rocking Daisy to sleep, keeping an eye on him as he played. He spotted a little girl with a pushchair, and he decided he wanted that pushchair and he wanted it NOW! Cue little girl crying as her pushchair was snatched away by my angelic-looking but not acting son. I leapt up and ran over, Daisy in one arm, and just managed to stop Jamie from flinging the pushchair across the room in anger. He then screamed at the top of his lungs and started crying loudly. It seemed as though everyone in the room, parents and children, went quiet and turned to look at me. I wanted the ground to open and swallow me, trying to reprimand him about his behaviour but also trying to distract him and calm him down. Luckily, after a talking-to about sharing and the offer of a biscuit, peace was restored. But god, it was embarrassing.

The thing is, I know that all those parents were probably thinking "thank god it's not my child" in a there-for-the-grace-of-god-go-I type way. But it felt as though they were all judging me and thinking my son is a thug, and wishing we would leave and never come back (we've only been to the group twice, so are newcomers on the scene). Sometimes being a mum of a toddler and a baby is hard. Luckily, soon after the pushchair incident, Daisy went to sleep and I was able to put her down and give Jamie some one-to-one time, doing some painting and playdough.

I know (thanks to my current parenting bible, "Toddler Taming") that most tantrums are down to wanting attention, and that 2 year olds haven't mastered much control over their emotions. I'm struggling to know what to ignore and what to punish - as ignoring and distracting is meant to be the best way to avert tantrums. But then, when he's lobbing toys around, I feel as though I need to punish him by using the naughty step...but then is that just giving him the attention he craves - for negative behaviour?

Anyway, aside from the tantrums, throwing and hitting, he is an adorable, funny and loving little boy. His speech is really coming along now and some of the things he says are so cute. Just as well, as it makes up for the mortifying public displays of defiance and aggression!

Things I love...

- snuggling up under his duvet together to read him a bedtime story

- waking up in the morning to hear him singing...current favourites are "Wheels on the bus" and "Old Macdonald".

- watching him in the garden, feeding corn to the chickens and squealing with delight as they follow him around

- his joy and wonder at the world around him...everything is an adventure, every day there are new things to discover.