Sharing

We have been working on sharing - and it is going about as well as trying to get them to stop fighting over toys, trying to get Tyler to stop biting when he is mad, or trying to get them to listen to me when I say no - not well at all! The list of issues is pretty long right now and I wish there was some kind of toddler boot camp I could send them to for discipline! Tyler is a nudist and refuses to get dressed. He runs away from me yelling no, no everytime I try to put his clothes on and if I capture him he bucks and thrashes so much that it is virtually impossible to get anything on him. Last night, after his bath, I was trying to put his pajamas on and he was having a royal fit - everytime I would finally get one arm in he would get it right back out and then he proceeded to lay on the floor and bang his head against the wall and the bed for 15 minutes! He started coughing and wheezing because he wouldn't stop yelling and crying but couldn't be calmed down. A lot of his meltdowns seem to stem from frustration. He thinks we don't understand what he is trying to say, but what he doesn't understand is that I know that he doesn't want to go to bed, that he wants another cracker, that he wants to climb the stairs, that he wants to pull all the wipes out of the pack, and especially that he does not want to go in his car seat ever, but he doesn't yet realize that he doesn't have a choice! He is doing so, so good with his words, and is learning to be such a big helper and sweet to his "sissy" and is really not having tantrums all the time at all - just when he does they are doozies! Katie has started screaming and crying when she doesn't get her way but it is nothing like Tyler! She has learned that she loves going "outside" and will grab your hand and try everything she can to take you out there - she will say bye bye, outside, go to the door and cry and beat on it, you name it but we can't go out there because the rain is neverending! Hopefully we'll get some sunshine soon and my little swing obsessed girl can get back outside. The only thing that I have found that works somewhat with the clothes issue and some of the other things that send them over the edge is to let them think they are doing it themselves or helping me. If we are putting their clothes on (they can't quite do it on their own without a little help, but think that they can ) we have to make a big deal about something that is on their clothes - dinosaur, car, ball, button, flower - those are all very exciting things to wear all day! I hate to even think about what outfits are going to look like when they get to pick them out and put them on by themselves. Already the pairings they bring me are hideous and Tyler LOVES pink shoes.

These were taken at daycare - shows how sharing usually goes. Whatever Tyler has Katie wants (and vice versa). Tyler can usually be convinced to give it to his sissy, but usually once she gets it she holds on for dear life and usually runs as far away from him as she can while he trails behind crying :-(.

Tyler has both dolls and Katie is trying to nonchalantly grab one.

Tyler says here you go, you can have the girl baby.

Katie says nope, I'll take both. At least Tyler doesn't seem too upset about it this time.