2.5 or demonic posession, you decide

[BeantownBaby9]

a month ago, something started to change with my already active, spirited little guy.  We spent the fall diligently working on accepting blankets in bed, and putting himself to bed on his own.  It was working great.  In late November, I had a happy guy that napped 1-4, was asleep by 9 every night and was doing really well on his own.  And he wasn't drinking in the middle of the night, and he was STTN a few nights a week.  In our books, this was GREAT, probably the best we've felt about his sleep progress.  Seemed like we were on the upswing, and it can only get better right? so lets try to have another baby....

This is how the last two months has gone for us.  I got pregnant.  Then we lost the baby at 7.5wks.  My hubby was completely insensitive about it and I felt like it was the last straw of many.  Panic attacks daily, breakdowns, just a mess.  Then my hubby was in the ER on Xmas eve and Xmas was a bust.  Then I had a complication from the MC and ended up in the ER.  HUbby and I are on the mend, then he threw his back out and has been out of work all week.  It was also Christmas break and I was hormonic mess from the mc and SAD all hitting at the same time....lovely all around. 

So in this timeframe, about 4 weeks, my sleeping, nice, cooperative boy has been over taken by the devil.  He was doing great with potty training, no accidents the whole week before Xmas and now he's absolutely refusing to tell me when he needs to pee.  Poop he'll still do on the toilet, but pee, not only not telling me, but peeing out of spite if I get upset with him.  He's freaking out about going down to nap.bed alone, so we've abandoned that, but now he's refusing to nap on lots of days.  The word no has gone from no, to NEH! With sass and all. My non tantrumer is now freaking out and crying about the smallest things.  He's throwing food, hitting, biting, kicking and punching, all of which had dissipated months ago. He's obsessed with touching my moles on my cheek or having some body part touching my bare belly as he falls asleep.  He's also back to drinking at night, a full bottle, sometimes 2 (food allergies, elecare formula)

So......is this normal 2.5 weirdness or is it the stress in our lives exacerbating this?  And what the heck, besides stress reduction, can I do to help him feel comfortable, want to sleep, and be nice again?

[pbjmama]

Yes, it is because of the stress and general upheaval. What you can do 1) reassure, be patient, be gentle. 2) set and enforce healthy boundaries 3) Take care of yourself and your needs so you can take care of him. I feel you on the mole thing. My dd is mole obsessed and it might be the end of me. If I could pay out the $ to get them removed I would.

[tzs]

haven't been there yet so no advice from me but gotta say....you must really be on the upswing...your title is so awesome i just had to read the post! keep it up!!!

p.s. dh has been telling me that dd has been reminding him of carrie ann from poltergeist lately. can;t be good. 

[broodymama]

It sounds like a lot of it could be C responding to the stress in the household over the last few months, and part of it is just the age.  It can just be a deadly combination, I tell you there are days when if I make it through the day without eating my young then I consider the day a success.  My cute angelic little K?  Bwahaha!  Hell on wheels, baby, just like the others.  Ear piercing shrieks, brawling with her siblings and can go from 0 to destruction in 2.5 seconds.  

Give it 6 months.  I know it sounds like a long time right now, but things can go from really frustrating to really good in 6 months.  (It's a cycle, though, which means when things are good you know that in 6 months you may be beating your head against the wall again in 6 months!)