I dont know what Im askingor if I am just venting. Ok so the terrible 2s werent so bad. The tyranical 3s are posing some problems. Attitude, rudeness, hitting... and then theres the nice side of it... great conversations, independence, being a great help.

It hit me today at dinner time that the past few weeks we seem to be going backwards in some areas. Meal times are one... it dawned on me that DD1 who is 3 and 4 months, has for the past few weeks been wanting/demanding 'help' to eat her meals, otherwise meal times end in tantrums and screaming unless she is fed. Today she had about 2 spoons of breakfast and I realised that I ended up feeding her the rest, otherwise she wouldnt have eaten it. Then at dinner time, she had another few mouthfuls and insisted on me helping her coz she 'cant do it'. With dd2 being 20 months old and requiring some assistance and dh at work, I flat out said no you need to eat your own food by yourself. Well it went down like a lead ballon and an hour later she still hadnt eaten most of her meal.

The other thing also over the past few weeks has been bed time. She went through a stage of being kissed goodnight and falling to sleep on her own.... now we have to lay with her otherwise its mega tantrum time. Also when she wakes during the night (still) its much the same and you dont want to hear that screaming at all hours. Plus she shares a room with dd2 so often its easier to keep her quiet and lay with her.

I am due to have dd3 in about 11 weeks and I just cant really be doing this for her. I dont do this much for dd2. I know dd1 is much higher maintainence, but this is rediculous. I need to sort it out before the baby comes along.

I suppose I am just asking is this something that 3 year olds do? Is it a part of the 3 year old stage? What do I do? Its a hard one... shes our first and to be honest we have no idea what we're doing when it comes to her behaviour.... I look at it as an apprenticeship! Thanks for listening... any tips would be truely appreciated.