Simple things lately have been a problem.

Taking dirty clothes off a toddler to hopefully replace with new and fresh ones.

Getting said toddler dressed in new clothes to leave the house.

Putting a jumper/jacket on the toddler is also a nightmare that ends in him screaming and carrying on.

Not to mention trying to give him a bath or shower.  This is a real issue too!

I must say that all the things I have been trying to do are good. Keeping Alexander clean and tidy, making sure he is in clean clothes, and making sure that he gets a wash every now and then.

You might think from his crazy reaction to me being a caring mum that I am torturing him.  Screaming at the top of his lungs I am sure might make the neighbours think something horrible is indeed happening, but it could just be me trying to put pants and shoes on a child to enable me to leave the house.

Now that the weather is cooler it is essential that everyone has jumpers and jackets on.

You might think that it would be obvious to a child that it is cold and therefore a warm jumper would be a good idea. Well, you are wrong!

Alexander has fought and fought so much that it is next to impossible to put a jumper or jacket on him.

I managed to put what I could on him and then decided I couldn’t lose another hour of my life trying to get the jumper on him.

Some days I’ve just given up. A little bit of dirt on clothes is not the end of the world.

A toddler will only get dirtier so what is the big deal. I just need to pick my battles.

If it is important for him to look good then, of course, fresh clothes is essential, however, if we are just playing in the garden or the park and it is a fight to get him changed I am not bothering so much.

Now I suppose all the other mums out there will think I am doing him a disservice and I should make sure he is washed and in clean everything at all times. Well, I cannot do this and have tried, but according to the world of a two-year-old boy, this is torture and therefore only happens when he lets me.

Do you face this guilt about clothes, baths and more? How crusty has your child gotten before you have succumbed and made them take a bath? I think my little boy did a week without a bath but I did manage to get him washed with a face washer on his face, feet and hands.

Alexander hates the wind and lately, it has been super icy.

If it is extremely windy he shouts at the wind, “NO WIND STOP!”

I have told him that no matter what you say to the wind you cannot control it. I really wish you could just tell the wind to stop and it would.

When Alexander is loud and being naughty I tell him to be quiet and try and use a whisper voice to show him. He then raises his voice to a new booming level and screams, NOOO! MUMMA!” , then has the hide to scream at the top of his lungs, “SHSSHHHHH MUMMA!!!!!!”

I’ve also realised that when he gets a bit naughty and loud he is hungry. It must be his blood sugar level dropping and his personality just changes. Once he has a bit of food he is happier and just so much better behaved.

I had to be somewhere the other day and thank goodness I packed a few mandarins in the bag. Without this quick snack, he would have screamed the place down, and this was a nice quiet government department.

If Alexander is tired, hungry or bored he can throw the biggest tantrum. He is also scratching and hitting his sisters and hubby and me when he acts up.

I do know that part of it is frustration that he cannot do certain things and sometimes get left out when the twins have their friends over.

One technique that I do with the kids is getting down at their level and try and remain calm.

It is a hard task when the kid in question is having a full on fit but I do my best. Sometimes my little boy is so exhausted I just get him ready for a nap even when he really is fighting it. He goes to bed quite quickly if he is this tired.

Sometimes the horrible tantrums and fits of annoyance are down to the fact that I will not let him take a much-loved truck or car to childcare. (He lost some the other day and was so upset about it I have decided no more toys from home leave with him when he is at care).

I’ve tried giving him only two choices for clothes but that has not worked out very well. It seems to work best when his favourite red shirt and pants that have characters on the knees are clean and ready to be worn. Aside from this, he suffers me putting inferior items on him.

The twins did not have such temper tantrums and only got interested in the colours of the clothes and were perfectly happy to be dressed as long as it was either purple or pink.  They each had their favourite colours.

I suppose Alexander is doing the same with preferring red shirts and pants, however, I don’t have a lot of red items. Maybe this needs to be fixed? I need to purchase more red clothes.

Alexander is wanting to do more things on his own and being more independent, it is a pity that some things are a little tricky to do and therefore I still need to help him with. For example, he wants to walk across a busy street on his own (I, of course, carry him as he likes to run everywhere), feed himself even though he makes a huge mess and much more.

One thing that is very different from the girls is the fact that he yells, screams and makes so much noise. At times I think he is hurt or not happy but most of the time he is happy and playing.   Different personality is one thing I need to remind myself of,  and being a boy might be part of it too.

Do you struggle to get your toddler dressed, bathed and in a car?

Do they fight you? Is your child having more meltdowns lately?

I must say that it feels like a fight to get anything done.

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