Being 3.5

You know how it is, you just get caught up with your day to day life and think – “Ooooh I must put this in the blog and I must put that in the blog” and then when you sit down to actually write the said blog post all of them go straight out of your mind!!! The biggest change that we are experiencing is the major temper tantrums that come with being 3.5. Life is changing a lot for Veer and he is reacting in ways best known to him. Life is changing a lot for D and me too and we are learning with him, learning how to help him and learning a lot about ourselves in the process. Most people who know me will say that patience is not one of my many virtues. I am learning that I now possess it by the truckloads because a toddler can and will push your buttons!!!

So how do I deal with it – Very early on in his 3.5 years of existence I realized that the best way (that works in our household) is to calmly explain to him why we are in the current situation and how crying doesn’t help. I don’t believe in bribing or distracting him because I feel that I am just postponing dealing with the problem at hand. It has worked for me in that, for the most part, we haven’t had to deal with the same tantrum twice.

Another learning point for me is that we must pick our battles. You want to wear your Superman cape, two full sleeved t-shirts and jeans to school when it is 90 degrees outside??!!!! Ok!! Go for it. You will feel hot and then hopefully stop wearing them. But it ain’t happening. He still insists on dressing like he is either headed to a job interview or a trek to the Tundras depending on the day. I know Massachusetts really doesn’t have a summer to speak off but when you are out for more than 2 hours a day playing in the playground with a sandbox I can imagine that he gets hot!

With that being said, I am thankful for each day and taking it one day at a time and learning and growing with my little big boy J