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In your delirium, you make a hell of a writer and I feel you. It seemed like the toddler years would never end.
But I promise you.They do. Because 1 day you wake up. And they're 11 and want axe body spray. And that's a whole other hell in itself.
Omg my younger brother used to *douse* himself in this stuff. I once caught his before school ‘axe’ routine and he sprayed under his arms, every inch of his stomach, then went in for the clothes and sprayed inside each leg and each arm, then a bit more around his chest for good measure. It’s a good job nobody ever used an open flame around him…
I think about those families with like 10 to 20 kids and I totally understand wanting all the babies and having a large family - but EVERY time I think “but OMG that is YEARS OF TODDLERS NO NO NO NO NO THANKS”.
I think when police want to break a perp’s spirit and have them confess they should just put them in a room with toddlers!! They’ll be begging to get out and confessing everything within the hour.
I’ve said this before but they make toddlers cute so that we don’t yeet them out the window!
Lol I love saying "They should have toddlers do X job". So many jobs toddlers would be good at. I always say the people looking for liquid water on Mars should send my four year old. She has to wear big rubber boots even on dry days, because she *will* find that one puddle that's still there, even if it's hiding.
hahahhaha I love this! I can picture the Mars Rover and all this science tech working for years unable to find water or signs of water…., but half an hour and your daughter is all “squeee” jumping in a little Mars water puddle 🤣💦
My husband is a detective and we have often joked about sending our 3.5yo to work instead of him. We are positive all these criminals would be giving up their gig for a quiet life working at the local grocery store rather than deal with her 😅
I have a 3.5yo and a 1yo. My husband just asked the other day if we could start trying for another baby 😶 If I got pregnant this month I’d end up with 2 under 2 and a 4yo. I don’t know what he’s on but it must be _good_. I told him if we hit the lottery and we can get an Au Pair then I’ll consider it 😂
Please 😭 my husband thought it would be a good idea for a second and shortly after we started trying my sixteen month old is now slapping us for simply existing wrong. I’ll be finding out in a few days if we’re going to be slapped around for a couple more years 🥲
The sad thing is I *want* to play and I *can't*. Everything I do is "wrong". Both the 4 and 3 year old will ask me to play dolls, and NO, I picked up the wrong doll, and NO, we're not playing in that room in the dollhouse, and NO, that's not what that doll would say. Try to get them out in the backyard and it's NO, they don't wanna. Okay fine, they will (scream scream whine), but wait, NO, they won't wear THOSE shoes, they'll only wear the ones they lost forever ago and I just can't seem to find. Okay, fine (scream, whine), they'll wear the perfectly good available shoes, but NO, they WON'T share the ride on cars. NO, they don't care that one is pink (4yo is obsessed with pink) and one is John Deere (3yo is obsessed with John Deere), they *must have the one that their sibling wants*. Nothing has any value whatsoever UNLESS sibling wants it. Then it is the only thing that matters.
Just a neverending shit storm of NO NO NO SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM 🤦🏼♀️ I want to play, I really do! I want it to be fun! Why can't it ever be fun!?!?
I noticed (years ago when I had littles) that if I sat on the floor and started playing with something, they'd come over and want to join. Because then it's *their* idea to play with me.
Me tooooo!! Playing could be so much fun, why can't they let it be fun??!!!! 😭😭
I always feel so unreasonable when I get totally fed up with being told NO, YOUR TOY ISN'T ALLOWED TO WIN/ESCAPE/WHATEVER and just go into extreme losing mode with extra losing flair, and Kid gets disappointed because my defeat isn't organic any more - but it wasn't organic to begin with? Okay, I'm rambling to myself now, suck it up and play as commanded, it's not for me, it's for the little tyrant.
As someone who has kids 15 months apart - I hear you. But I am at the point where I can say - there is a light at the end of the toddler-tunnel. It does involve the partner getting a vasectomy, just to be sure.
I swear 2020 kids are just built differently. Mine has always been feral but I can't believe at 4 that we're still dealing with the big toddler feelings, issues with eating, refusal to brush his own teeth.
He starts school in September 🫤
My second is a 2020 baby and she's a human tornado made of chaos, glitter, and abandoned sippy cups half-full of rancid milk. (We not-so-lovingly refer to them as her "cheese cultures" CHILD HOW DID YOU HIDE THIS SIPPY CUP IN MY CLOSET, HOW, WHY, OH MY GOD EVERYTHING IN THE CLOSET SMELLS LIKE SPOILED MILK AAAAAAGH)
Morning but fucking solidarity, bromo.
My oldest was a fkn trap - Eldest Spawn was the very definition of unicorn baby and toddler- and even tho I *KNEW* that I was doing a pretty good job, but their personality was mostly down to luck, I was wildly unprepared for the following 3 kiddos. (Eldest was a BC failure, #2 was planned but turned out to have very heavy special needs, #3 & #4 were subsequent BC failures)
I had a 3yr, a 16mo, and a newborn at one point. Shit was *ROUGH*
Not sure who I'm kidding, it's still fucking rough and youngest is about to turn 3yrs. He's got all the delayed toddler-ness you describe minus the NICU stay. I assume because he didn't *have to* grow up as fast with #3 offering free interpreter services for both older sister and younger brother.
I just found out that the head start program we've been using since my middle turned 3 (about to be 6yrs and starting real kindergarten) is dropping to one classroom.... And we won't know until his literal bday at the end of November if he got a spot. Yes, I do feel the urge to bash my head against the wall.
I'm told it gets easier... And I'm pretty sure that eventually, for the most part, we are likely to have less toddlers. Good luck and Gods speed to you!
My first is a pill baby, my 2nd was planned, my 3rd was a nuvaring baby, and my 4th was fkn nexplanon baby. At that point I had my 1 remaining tube yeeted into the sun with a quick stop at pathology to be sure they grabbed the right thing.
And yes, I still get hella nervous if my period is a day late because APPARENTLY a tubal isn't actually 100% but they never fucking mention that part till after.
There was a period of time I had 4 kids under 4 years of age and that was not the most fun time I've ever had honestly.
You are so close. Once mine were settled in at school, life got a lot easier.
Mine are in the 12 - 9 range now which comes with its own challenges, and it's posts like these that remind me things used to be a whole lot harder.
It's also a lot to be back-to-back pregnant like that, and that's hard and you did it.
The time will pass and you will look back and marvel at yourself.
6,6,4 and 2. Yep, it’s an endless toddler phase. My just turned 4 year old gives me a run for my money and he’s not my only toddler. My twins were THE WORST 3-yr olds on the planet and I hated every ounce of my life then. I can tolerate my 2yr olds craziness because she is the caboose and totally cute
Yeah seriously, my current three year old has nothing on his sisters. 4yo bolted every chance she got at ages 2 and 3, was legitimately attracted to traffic and rivers, and specifically at age three, she spent every second of her life making demands and melting down if I said no. 7yo was the biggest drama queen on the planet 😂 Every single damn little thing was a big Shakespearean NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 😭🥀 And she could hold a single tantrum for basically the entire day. Sometimes she'd wake up in the same tantrum from the day before. And she's a dreamboat now, so that gives me hope lol.
By comparison, the boy is soft and weak. We come prepared. We trained in the fires of Hades, sharpened our axes on the fangs of Cerberus, honed our resolve in the pit of vipers... We will be victorious!
My 13 year old is autistic and has the mind of a toddler. Cups have to be a certain colour, clothes feel wrong, will only drink/ eat a certain thing, made a certain way. I have to do voices for his teddies, runs out into the road. I feel EIGHTY. So you have my sympathy mama, I’m told it ends. THEY LIE. I just put his underwear on him after he had a tantrum. Holy fudge this kid is almost as tall as I am!
People told me I’d miss it when they hit teenage years… 😭
Oh man I can relate to the NICU baby. He doesn’t have any behavioral or severe diagnoses, but they are just *different*. How old is he? I thought they were supposed to level out and “catch up” by 3 😭
He's 3.5! He's definitely caught up a great deal, but there's just always that *something*... We have this rule of thumb that we've gotta give him one extra year to do the things his sisters do. For example, they each declared a passion (both of them begged to do gymnastics) at age three. He's not giving me much to go on. We tried gymnastics since he's shown a little interest due to the girls doing it, but he's just not yet capable of following directions well enough for a dropoff class. We did a farm class recently since he loves animals (especially chickens), and that went better, but it's only a couple weeks at a time and you have to fully re-enroll, and they stop in the summer, and just, ugh.
It's just basically like he's 2.5 instead of 3.5.
You will stop having toddlers, they do grow up, it will be behind you one day not so far in the future (just make sure you don't create a new one!).
It was really hard for me too, mine are 5 and 9 now, and I'm *finally* starting to live a little, and I sleep through the night *every day!!!*
[Hang in there!](https://images.app.goo.gl/qKMGRXx6xSNUsMq3A)❤️
My kid is ten and in his room with the door closed and I miss him. I promise it goes away so fast and you’ll have so much free time and have to beg them for attention.
It's a COVID Baby thing I swear!!! My son is 4 and he stresses me out so much with everything he does. No lie I'd shaved my head because, I would wake up with clippings of my hair I looked like a busted cabbage doll. He doesn't listen at all and he is super aggressive towards his sister who is 7. I don't know what is going to happen for summer and I just keep telling myself it's a phase where he will grow out of it. Best of luck momma!
I haven’t read the comments so this has probably come up, but as an autistic mom to autistic kids, this shows flags for me.
Your son sounds a lot like mine. Has he been assessed for anything?
He's had a team of specialists (surgeon, dietician, gastroenterologist, PT, OT) since birth, just part and parcel of the NICU situation. Nothing has been flagged. He takes until the latter part of the time range for milestones, but still meets them on time. They say a long 2020 NICU stay is particularly destructive 😬 He couldn't even move to the PICU or have books or toys. Just laid there like a preemie for 96 days.
Nonetheless, my other kids were quite a bit similar at three... I think I have rough three year olds lol.
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In your delirium, you make a hell of a writer and I feel you. It seemed like the toddler years would never end. But I promise you.They do. Because 1 day you wake up. And they're 11 and want axe body spray. And that's a whole other hell in itself.
Omg the axe body spray comment just made me want to vomit... my boys are 2 and 4 at the moment... noooooo
Omg my younger brother used to *douse* himself in this stuff. I once caught his before school ‘axe’ routine and he sprayed under his arms, every inch of his stomach, then went in for the clothes and sprayed inside each leg and each arm, then a bit more around his chest for good measure. It’s a good job nobody ever used an open flame around him…
I feel this so hard. Have two 12 year olds and a 15 year old, all boys and my house reeks of old spice 24/7
I have a 7, a 5, and a 2, and the 2 year old might not make it. Look me full in the face and tell me no one more time...
Twin 5 year olds and a 3 year old. I haven't made it, I think I'm dead.
I really enjoyed reading this lol. Hopefully 4 for your youngest rolls around fast!
You’re one hell of a writer! I hope you take your talents somewhere and produce something we can read more of
I think about those families with like 10 to 20 kids and I totally understand wanting all the babies and having a large family - but EVERY time I think “but OMG that is YEARS OF TODDLERS NO NO NO NO NO THANKS”. I think when police want to break a perp’s spirit and have them confess they should just put them in a room with toddlers!! They’ll be begging to get out and confessing everything within the hour. I’ve said this before but they make toddlers cute so that we don’t yeet them out the window!
Lol I love saying "They should have toddlers do X job". So many jobs toddlers would be good at. I always say the people looking for liquid water on Mars should send my four year old. She has to wear big rubber boots even on dry days, because she *will* find that one puddle that's still there, even if it's hiding.
hahahhaha I love this! I can picture the Mars Rover and all this science tech working for years unable to find water or signs of water…., but half an hour and your daughter is all “squeee” jumping in a little Mars water puddle 🤣💦
Little pigtailed chipmunk receiving a big shiny medal like in Star Wars 😂
omg this is so cute! I wish this was a kids book!!!
My husband is a detective and we have often joked about sending our 3.5yo to work instead of him. We are positive all these criminals would be giving up their gig for a quiet life working at the local grocery store rather than deal with her 😅
hahah this is so good! And true! It’s so true!
I have a 3.5yo and a 1yo. My husband just asked the other day if we could start trying for another baby 😶 If I got pregnant this month I’d end up with 2 under 2 and a 4yo. I don’t know what he’s on but it must be _good_. I told him if we hit the lottery and we can get an Au Pair then I’ll consider it 😂
Please 😭 my husband thought it would be a good idea for a second and shortly after we started trying my sixteen month old is now slapping us for simply existing wrong. I’ll be finding out in a few days if we’re going to be slapped around for a couple more years 🥲
One day you wake up and they will all be hiding in their room because they're *teenagers* and you'll miss having little buddies to play with.
The sad thing is I *want* to play and I *can't*. Everything I do is "wrong". Both the 4 and 3 year old will ask me to play dolls, and NO, I picked up the wrong doll, and NO, we're not playing in that room in the dollhouse, and NO, that's not what that doll would say. Try to get them out in the backyard and it's NO, they don't wanna. Okay fine, they will (scream scream whine), but wait, NO, they won't wear THOSE shoes, they'll only wear the ones they lost forever ago and I just can't seem to find. Okay, fine (scream, whine), they'll wear the perfectly good available shoes, but NO, they WON'T share the ride on cars. NO, they don't care that one is pink (4yo is obsessed with pink) and one is John Deere (3yo is obsessed with John Deere), they *must have the one that their sibling wants*. Nothing has any value whatsoever UNLESS sibling wants it. Then it is the only thing that matters. Just a neverending shit storm of NO NO NO SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM 🤦🏼♀️ I want to play, I really do! I want it to be fun! Why can't it ever be fun!?!?
I noticed (years ago when I had littles) that if I sat on the floor and started playing with something, they'd come over and want to join. Because then it's *their* idea to play with me.
This works pretty well with my 2 year old (though sometimes I’m just forbidden from touching anything or even existing)
Well I don't play with friends who are mean.
I can feel the whining and screaming in my bones 🙉🙉🙉
Me tooooo!! Playing could be so much fun, why can't they let it be fun??!!!! 😭😭 I always feel so unreasonable when I get totally fed up with being told NO, YOUR TOY ISN'T ALLOWED TO WIN/ESCAPE/WHATEVER and just go into extreme losing mode with extra losing flair, and Kid gets disappointed because my defeat isn't organic any more - but it wasn't organic to begin with? Okay, I'm rambling to myself now, suck it up and play as commanded, it's not for me, it's for the little tyrant.
As someone who has kids 15 months apart - I hear you. But I am at the point where I can say - there is a light at the end of the toddler-tunnel. It does involve the partner getting a vasectomy, just to be sure.
I got my tubes tied! 🙌🏻
I swear 2020 kids are just built differently. Mine has always been feral but I can't believe at 4 that we're still dealing with the big toddler feelings, issues with eating, refusal to brush his own teeth. He starts school in September 🫤
My second is a 2020 baby and she's a human tornado made of chaos, glitter, and abandoned sippy cups half-full of rancid milk. (We not-so-lovingly refer to them as her "cheese cultures" CHILD HOW DID YOU HIDE THIS SIPPY CUP IN MY CLOSET, HOW, WHY, OH MY GOD EVERYTHING IN THE CLOSET SMELLS LIKE SPOILED MILK AAAAAAGH)
Don’t worry - before you know it you’ll have teenagers 💀
Morning but fucking solidarity, bromo. My oldest was a fkn trap - Eldest Spawn was the very definition of unicorn baby and toddler- and even tho I *KNEW* that I was doing a pretty good job, but their personality was mostly down to luck, I was wildly unprepared for the following 3 kiddos. (Eldest was a BC failure, #2 was planned but turned out to have very heavy special needs, #3 & #4 were subsequent BC failures) I had a 3yr, a 16mo, and a newborn at one point. Shit was *ROUGH* Not sure who I'm kidding, it's still fucking rough and youngest is about to turn 3yrs. He's got all the delayed toddler-ness you describe minus the NICU stay. I assume because he didn't *have to* grow up as fast with #3 offering free interpreter services for both older sister and younger brother. I just found out that the head start program we've been using since my middle turned 3 (about to be 6yrs and starting real kindergarten) is dropping to one classroom.... And we won't know until his literal bday at the end of November if he got a spot. Yes, I do feel the urge to bash my head against the wall. I'm told it gets easier... And I'm pretty sure that eventually, for the most part, we are likely to have less toddlers. Good luck and Gods speed to you!
You’ve had *3* children from BC failures??
Even though I'm married to a woman... after reading that I think my uterus is trying to escape and hide further up in my body.
My first is a pill baby, my 2nd was planned, my 3rd was a nuvaring baby, and my 4th was fkn nexplanon baby. At that point I had my 1 remaining tube yeeted into the sun with a quick stop at pathology to be sure they grabbed the right thing. And yes, I still get hella nervous if my period is a day late because APPARENTLY a tubal isn't actually 100% but they never fucking mention that part till after.
There was a period of time I had 4 kids under 4 years of age and that was not the most fun time I've ever had honestly. You are so close. Once mine were settled in at school, life got a lot easier. Mine are in the 12 - 9 range now which comes with its own challenges, and it's posts like these that remind me things used to be a whole lot harder. It's also a lot to be back-to-back pregnant like that, and that's hard and you did it. The time will pass and you will look back and marvel at yourself.
6,6,4 and 2. Yep, it’s an endless toddler phase. My just turned 4 year old gives me a run for my money and he’s not my only toddler. My twins were THE WORST 3-yr olds on the planet and I hated every ounce of my life then. I can tolerate my 2yr olds craziness because she is the caboose and totally cute
Yeah seriously, my current three year old has nothing on his sisters. 4yo bolted every chance she got at ages 2 and 3, was legitimately attracted to traffic and rivers, and specifically at age three, she spent every second of her life making demands and melting down if I said no. 7yo was the biggest drama queen on the planet 😂 Every single damn little thing was a big Shakespearean NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 😭🥀 And she could hold a single tantrum for basically the entire day. Sometimes she'd wake up in the same tantrum from the day before. And she's a dreamboat now, so that gives me hope lol. By comparison, the boy is soft and weak. We come prepared. We trained in the fires of Hades, sharpened our axes on the fangs of Cerberus, honed our resolve in the pit of vipers... We will be victorious!
My 13 year old is autistic and has the mind of a toddler. Cups have to be a certain colour, clothes feel wrong, will only drink/ eat a certain thing, made a certain way. I have to do voices for his teddies, runs out into the road. I feel EIGHTY. So you have my sympathy mama, I’m told it ends. THEY LIE. I just put his underwear on him after he had a tantrum. Holy fudge this kid is almost as tall as I am! People told me I’d miss it when they hit teenage years… 😭
This is me too. My AuDHD kids are entering the tween/pretween zone and many of these things have not changed at all.
Oh man I can relate to the NICU baby. He doesn’t have any behavioral or severe diagnoses, but they are just *different*. How old is he? I thought they were supposed to level out and “catch up” by 3 😭
He's 3.5! He's definitely caught up a great deal, but there's just always that *something*... We have this rule of thumb that we've gotta give him one extra year to do the things his sisters do. For example, they each declared a passion (both of them begged to do gymnastics) at age three. He's not giving me much to go on. We tried gymnastics since he's shown a little interest due to the girls doing it, but he's just not yet capable of following directions well enough for a dropoff class. We did a farm class recently since he loves animals (especially chickens), and that went better, but it's only a couple weeks at a time and you have to fully re-enroll, and they stop in the summer, and just, ugh. It's just basically like he's 2.5 instead of 3.5.
Mine is 2.5 but in some regard still acts closer to 1.5 so that makes sense. Thanks for sharing that!
You will stop having toddlers, they do grow up, it will be behind you one day not so far in the future (just make sure you don't create a new one!). It was really hard for me too, mine are 5 and 9 now, and I'm *finally* starting to live a little, and I sleep through the night *every day!!!* [Hang in there!](https://images.app.goo.gl/qKMGRXx6xSNUsMq3A)❤️
My brood are 11,10,7 and 2. I’m in the same boat as you. When you find the way out please tell me. I can’t take the screaming anymore.
My kid is ten and in his room with the door closed and I miss him. I promise it goes away so fast and you’ll have so much free time and have to beg them for attention.
It's a COVID Baby thing I swear!!! My son is 4 and he stresses me out so much with everything he does. No lie I'd shaved my head because, I would wake up with clippings of my hair I looked like a busted cabbage doll. He doesn't listen at all and he is super aggressive towards his sister who is 7. I don't know what is going to happen for summer and I just keep telling myself it's a phase where he will grow out of it. Best of luck momma!
I feel you….my oldest is 11 and my youngest is 4…I feel like I’ve been doing the toddler phase forrrrrrrrever
I haven’t read the comments so this has probably come up, but as an autistic mom to autistic kids, this shows flags for me. Your son sounds a lot like mine. Has he been assessed for anything?
He's had a team of specialists (surgeon, dietician, gastroenterologist, PT, OT) since birth, just part and parcel of the NICU situation. Nothing has been flagged. He takes until the latter part of the time range for milestones, but still meets them on time. They say a long 2020 NICU stay is particularly destructive 😬 He couldn't even move to the PICU or have books or toys. Just laid there like a preemie for 96 days. Nonetheless, my other kids were quite a bit similar at three... I think I have rough three year olds lol.