I am so sorry if I was ever smug

[Buckeye Princess]

I am so sorry if I was ever smug during DD's first year. She was an absolutely easy baby. I was very lucky. She only cried if she was hungry, she slept through the night from week 3, she traveled well, etc. I couldn't have asked for more. I used to think, geez this is supposed to be hard? Why do people complain.

I'm sorry.

Apparently she is making up for lost time because at 15 months I think I'm getting the terrible twos early. haha She is soooooo stubborn and strong willed. DH and I are both very consistent and firm with discipline but she never relents. The last FOUR weeks her goal has been climbing and standing on couches, chairs etc. Every time we remove her say no and give her no further attention. She keeps doing it and doing it and doing it. Four weeks, still going. Same with dumping her milk to give to the cat and other "No" behaviors. I know she is testing her boundaries but boy it is wearing me out physically and mentally.

So I'm sorry to any mothers who I ever judged for rambunctious toddlers. I'm sorry to any mothers who had it rough during that first year when I had it easy.

 

[minkydog]

So, I know you're being serious, but this struck me as funny. If you're a mother long enough, you're gonna eat some crow. My first one was hell on wheels. I had NO illusions of being the perfect mother. I felt like a complete failure 24 hours a day. At 2yo he straightened up and was absolutely wonderful--no terrible twos. My second one was calm and cool from birth. Never cried, was very regular in her habits, just about the perfect baby. If I had had her first I would have really thought I had it going on. Of course, she hit 2 and turned into a demon and it lasted for 2 years. I don't know which was worse, baby Attila the Hun or Miss Priss Holy Terror.

Hang in there. You're still a good mom. A tired, worn out mom, but a good one. I can remember telling my mother about my 2nd one "I can't take my eye off her for even 2 seconds!" and my mom, who had 5 children in 8 years wisely said, "I know." It gets better eventually.

 

[cassiez76]

OP, i'm sitting her laughing!

my 17 month old has been the easiest baby! sleeping thru the night from 5 days old! ha! beat you on that one!!

at 11 months, he figured out how to get to the dog food.

now at 17 months...HOLY TERROR! not as bad as he could be, he can climb, but still hasn't figure out how to get on the sofa yet.

he has figured out the dishwasher. *smacks forehead* i told my husband to get the floor model that the door made a horrible noise...sounded like it needed WD0-40...that had the buttons on the top....OHNO! says thomas won't press the buttons...ohno, not our child. then he says if we leave it closed, but not locked he won't figure that out either.

so now i let him chase him every time we hear the dishwasher.

that's really his terror ways, but they make me cringe!

one last thing...if i see a child screaming bloody murder out in public, i whisper to him, if you do that, i will get you and pinch you. lol he behaves in public.

 

[MiniGirl]

OMGoodness, OP, I could've written that post. My oldest was just a dream, and I was absolutely certain it was all due to my wonderful parenting skills. Then at about 20 months or so, it was all over, and I was so humbled by her. It didn't help that she was very tall and very verbal, so cashiers thought she was older than she was. They couldn't believe that I'd allow my child to behave like that. I found myself constantly saying things like, "My big 1 yo girl" or "I think for your 2nd birthday we should....." Anything just to let people know she wasn't even 2 yet.

Now, my youngest..... well, she makes me question my parenting skills each and every day, but we love her to bits, of course.

Hang in there. This phase will pass. I promise.

 

[Becky2005]

I'm sorry -- luckily...once you survive this stage it will become a vague memory with only a few standouts -- then again...I have 2 teenagers -- I'm just hoping to survive that as a vague memory with only a few standouts.

Hang in there, maybe with starting early the 3's won't be so bad???? I know they always say "Terrible Twos" but my kids it was "Terrible Threes".

 

[phillmolly]

Hey, at least you had a year with an easy baby! My little guy has been testing his limits since day one!!!! I love him to death but he has always been an high needs baby, I couldn't put him down for the first nine months of his life and even now at 19 months he still doesn't sleep through the night. It's a good night if I get four straight hours. He has always had a very strong personality, 99.9% of the time he is the sweetest, kindest, most loving little boy, but watch out for that other .1%! Just today he threw the most major fit, gentley throwing himself down on the floor and then crying and kicking! Why, becasue he caught me watering down his juice! It wasn't the first time either, I have to be very sneaky about it. I think I am in for loads of trouble when he starts talking!

 

[Mermaid02]

I was smug and self righteous for the first 7 YEARS of my daughters life- she was SO easy Then we had our son- he was difficult from the get go. I've been eating crow for 13 years now- it's an acquired taste to say the least.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

My 17 year old made us think parenthood was easy. Then we had another. and another and another If we stopped at one we would be thinking parenthood is the easiest thing in the world. Not so much anymore. Bryan is 2 and went to sleep after midnight last night. He woke up just before 6 am. I'm seeing a good nap in the near future. I hope

 

[mjkacmom]

Just a FYI - my sister had her first 6 months after I had #4 and #5, and I remember her asking me how to keep a toddler off of the couch - you don't. I've learned that once they have the ability to climb up, they're fine. But I understand - #1 slept through the night and was on a regular nap schedule at 6 weeks, loved every single food I fed her, and only cried when she needed something. She was an easy toddler, but from preschool on, was tough. The next baby never slept, cried all of the time, hated all food, and was a super-active toddler (BTW, I jjk asked for Ritalin when he was a baby - he was so hard to diaper and dress - and he's now 12 and medicated).

 

[Darsa]

Haha! I hear ya; my DD was a "dream baby", which is probably why I never had any more kids That, unfortunately let me in for unbearable comparisons of how overworked and harried my sister in law was with her two kids. The one time I had my DD "visiting" her house, she ended up staying in the same diaper I had taken her there in, and she was there for approximately 9 hours (I was working and daycare was closed that day). SIL said she didn't change her because she "never cried". Well I'll tell ya, when I had to deal with the incredible rash she ended up with, she cried.

 

[kristilew]

OP, i'm sitting her laughing!

my 17 month old has been the easiest baby! sleeping thru the night from 5 days old! ha! beat you on that one!!

at 11 months, he figured out how to get to the dog food.

My DD got into the dog food at that age too. From 11-15 months, she ate more of that than people food! I even took a bag into the ped's office to have him check the nutritional content and tell me that she wasn't gonna die from her addiction

OP, hang in there! Major word at that age: distract! Don't just say no and ignore, offer a more attractive alternative. And if she loves to climb that much, get her into a toddler gymnastics class pronto. Who knows, maybe you have a future olympian!

 

[Legendofthehawk]

My son was an angel baby until around 13 months old. The exact time I got pregnant with his sister, funny enough. The twos were okay.. I find the threes much much more challenging. I don't think he will magickally start behaving by four, but there is hope.

My DD was another angel baby. She did sleep through the night a couple of times. Always easy to please.. Well she's two now. She is mostly a very sweet girl, but she has a temper. She's starting scratching when she doesn't get her way, and throwing a fit.


I used to be that person who would look at kids screaming in public, shake my head and tell my husband "we'll never be that way!".

I didn't know that I was literally putting my foot in my mouth, and basically smacking fate to do the exact opposite!

 

[Mkrop]

If DS7 had been born first, he would have been an only child. DS12 was so easy until potty training.

 

[LisaR]

My smugness came when discussing potty training. I took DD for her 18 month check up and the doctor told me I should get a potty so she could just get used to it. I bought one on the way home and set it up in the bathroom as soon as we got home. DD ripped her diaper off, went on the new potty and never wore a diaper from that moment on and didn't have any accidents! When friends would complain about potty training, I had that smug, know it all look on my face. Then came my DS...........

The kid is 12 and I am not sure he has the whole potty training thing down yet! Okay, of course he does but now that he is finally trained, he misses an awful lot. He just would not train. He was wearing pull ups until he was 5 1/2 and don't even talk to me about nighttime training. We were certain we were going to send him away to college with cases of pull ups.

He ripped that smugness right off my face!

 

[golfgal]

I'm sorry -- luckily...once you survive this stage it will become a vague memory with only a few standouts -- then again...I have 2 teenagers -- I'm just hoping to survive that as a vague memory with only a few standouts.

Hang in there, maybe with starting early the 3's won't be so bad???? I know they always say "Terrible Twos" but my kids it was "Terrible Threes".

I agree, 3 is WAY WORSE than 2, sorry for the bad news OP .

I remember when my very easy first born hit that stage, I kept thinking "who took my easy baby"? It was quite a change. He is going off to college soon so we did live through it but there were times....

 

[iwrbnd]

My first was absolutely perfect until kindergarten when we got the shocking news he wasn't able to stay on task. What we thought was good behavior was actually extreme daydreaming! Yep, he's got inattentive ADD which has been exhausting for the past 17 years!!!

 

[binny]

I'm sorry -- luckily...once you survive this stage it will become a vague memory with only a few standouts -- then again...I have 2 teenagers -- I'm just hoping to survive that as a vague memory with only a few standouts.

Hang in there, maybe with starting early the 3's won't be so bad???? I know they always say "Terrible Twos" but my kids it was "Terrible Threes".

Ditto!
The 2s were fairly easy for us too the threes on the other hand? I was willing to turn in my parenting card by the time the last made it through (barely made it through!)

now I have 2 pre teens and teenager. Between the pouting of the pre teen girls and the touchiness of the teenager I am ready to pull out my hair!


I am blessed in a lot of ways, and they are really ARE good kids who dont give me, or anyone else, any trouble. Its just the emotional roller coaster at this point. You just get one settled down and the other starts in. wash rinse repeat

 

[Tinkermommy]

I hear you OP! My DD was an angel and still is. My DS was so easy until he hit 1 year. That seemed to flip a switch for him. He's constantly on the go and getting into stuff and hitting!!! He's getting better, I hope.

Before DS we used to go out to dinner and talk about "that" family. Now we are "that" family. We don't go out much anymore and when we do we make sure to bring along cars, my DHs ipod and DSs Nintendo DS. That way I can at least get 10 minutes finish my dinner!!

I am hoping he settles down soon, then I can be a wonderful parent again!

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Ahh yeah. Buckle your seatbealt, the terrible threes are grrreat-- so great, we got into them early! DD skipped the terrible twos altogether, and some days I really want to sell her to the circus. The temper tantrums, especially the public ones, where she knows people are watching her-- oh they're just the *best.*

Yesterday she for some reason wanted an egg-- she doesn't even like eggs, she just wanted an expired one from the fridge that I didn't even know I had. 5 mins later, I hear the fridge open... there she is, egg in hand. I tell her to give me the egg, when I said NO I meant NO... well she threw the egg. SPLAT.. all over the floor. That was pretty... my blood was boiling!

The thing that I don't understand is the parents that have the "perfect" children that appear to be perfect in all situations, what the heck are they doing to those kids at home?!? a dungeon?! shackles?!

 

[Bunnyfeather]

I have always said that the entire reason I had DD as my first child was to avoid any smug belief that I was some sort of perfect parent. I think I could have been if I had gotten an easy baby first. And then DS was reassurance so I wouldn't think I was a complete failure as a parent, just as I was starting to wonder. If they had been born in reverse I would have been smug for 2 years and then a total mess.

DD is not a holy terror, she is just very high maintenance to raise:very sensitive and impatient and easily distracted and we have to spend some effort to assure she doesn't become a brat. DS was an amazingly easy baby and while his twos involve a lot of loud expression of his beliefs and opinions, he can be reasoned with so I still consider it a win .