Age 4: Terrible Twos, Back with a Vengeance

The two year old Elisabeth was tough.  Very tough.  Many timeouts and a lot of frustration.  Then she turned three, and things got a lot better.  We would go days without a timeout.  And then.... she turned four.  Four is awful.  Tonight she actually flung herself on the floor and kicked and flung her arms.  Why, you might ask?  Because bed time is "no fun."  You can't "play and play and play."  This sort of thing has become a daily occurrence, if not more than daily.  

What's funny about it, though, is that it appears to be solely a control thing.  She's not really that upset over whatever sets her off.  But once we start hollering at her, she has to dig in her heels.  The end result is that we have a lot of knock down, drag out fights over things as important as whether she stands at the top of the stairs or the base of the stairs to tell me that it is my turn to read her stories before bed.  Or whether or not we're going to the bird store after lunch.  Or whether or not we can throw another stone in the creek.  I refuse to give in because I don't want to teach her that yelling and pitching a fit gets me to change my mind.  In turn, she refuses to give in on principle - to have some control over her little life.

Her most recent coping mechanism is interesting.  She has a dream of creating a tree house in the back yard, where she'll live full time.  On her own rules.  She'll "play, play, play all the time."  She expects us to bring her food.   She's taking her DVDs up there.  Doug reminded her that she'd freeze up there because tree houses don't have heat, electricity, water, a potty, etc.  The lack of a potty was welcome news because getting that kid to use the potty is another post in and of itself.  But in response to the lack of other modern conveniences, she said, "oh, no, my treehouse will have it all."  She better start saving her allowance!

I think its funny that she's dreaming about moving out at the ripe old age of 4.  I have dreams of sending her to live in a treehouse sometimes too.  Maybe she won't have to save up all that much allowance if she keeps throwing fits every day...

Did I mention that this revenge of the terrible twos comes at the exact same time as Charlotte is really blossoming into her own terrible two?  Oh my dear sweet little Charlotte has become my dear sweet little Charlotte and her evil other personality Hyde.  Every step is a fight, unless, of course, you choose to do everything her way and then she's as lovable and cute as you can imagine.  But try to wrestle clothes on her at your own risk.  Give her the purple bowl instead of the blue bowl and you better get a head start on running away.  And if you think she's going to eat that pizza that you just put down, well DUCK!  

Yesterday I picked her up to carry her on our walk and took a boot to the face.  Two days ago, she bit Elisabeth and we put her in a timeout.  Then, I talked to her about biting and asked her to apologize to Elisabeth with a "pat pat."  She refused and had a sort of "well, she deserved it," air about her which Doug and I told her wouldn't fly.  So she put herself back in timeout with the classic little kid lower lip stuck out pout.  Oh, and as soon as Elisabeth tries to get in the tub (Charlotte is already in the tub), Charlotte scoots to whatever end Elisabeth is trying to get in.  And then a major fight ensues which ends in either (1) a biting, (2) slapping, (3) pushing, (4) one kid getting out of the tub, or (5) both kids in tears.  

Who thinks this resurgence of the terrible twos was caused by Charlotte's entry to the terrible twos?  Or who thinks that Elisabeth is teaching Charlotte all of her tricks?  And can they both live in the treehouse??