I’ve heard that from ages one to two is the hardest age. The babies know what they want, but can’t communicate it to me. You cannot reason with them and they don’t understand ‘wait your turn’. Then I hear about the terrible twos, and horrible threes. I was under the impression that things were supposed to get easier NOT harder. Fake out!!! I think 0-4 months was by far the hardest age, but then again I had two babies. Never ending bottles, pumping, feeding, changing, bathing, rocking, crying, crapping. Add to that severe sleep deprivation and it’s a miracle I’m still sane!! Having a newborn wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and I’m sure it is because I had two newborns so I didn’t get to sit in the rocker and rock myself and baby asleep because there was always another baby to tend to. With that being said I must say that month 17 was a close second as far as HARD! The hardest month we’ve had since the newborn stage.
Enter tantrums accompanied by biting, hitting, scratching, banging ones head on the floor. Stealing toys, throwing toys, tripping and falling on toys. Teething. Oh my, the teething is not fun. Shenzie cut three molars that month and it was not a pleasant thing. Although Heaten is cutting three molars right now and as far as miserable goes, I think he wins.
And then there was the sleep. I have been very lucky to have two relatively good sleepers. They started sleeping through the night at 5 and 6 months. We had a really rough month with the transition to one nap and lots of night wakings. Since we moved them to their own rooms the night wakings are very, very few (knock on wood), and the one nap is finally working itself out at 2 hours as the norm.
I’m really looking forward to better communication and more stable feet and I am really dreading potty training.
So tell me oh seasoned ones….what was your hardest age and why?
April 14th, 2008 at 10:41 am
I would not call myself “seasoned” as I have a whopping 5 more months experience! But I would definitely say the 18-24 month phase is hard for all the reasons you list. Alex’s worst month was getting canines + CRAZY CRAZY tantrums (60-90 min long, and not the cute little one you posted, I am talking uncontrollable screaming and kicking and hitting) + testing boundaries.
My day care sums it up quite nicely:
NO LISTENING EARS.
Having two toddlers not listening to anything you say, not cooperating, running away from you. OH MY. Never as hard as the newborn phase but hard in a completely different, emotional way.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I wouldn’t call myself “seasoned” either since I only have 3 more months on you, but I think the hardest by far was the 2-9 month range for me. I say two because that’s about how old they were when they came home. I didn’t have good sleepers until about 10 months. Sleep deprivations was HARD. Although this age, 21 months, has it’s challenges. I would rather try to figure out what they want then to get up 10 times during the middle of the night. With that said, I’m kinda scared of the terrible two’s and I dread potty training as well.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I’m in the throes of the most difficult and most rewarding stage of the Beans’ life. At 31 months, they are at the age where they can tell me exactly what they want and, for the most part, I understand them. They are expressing emotion and revealing their intelligence and unique personalities. They are also stubborn, impatient, headstrong and love to test me at every turn. I think it is because they are just getting an idea of what the world is all about right now and their curiosity and eagerness to learn makes them virtually unable to sit still and listen! I’m all at once exhausted, frustrated, proud and completely entertained by them on a daily basis.
But really, when they were newborns, I would have said it was the most difficult time. And when they are on the verge of adolesence, I’m sure I’ll feel that helplessness again.
Oh, and potty-training two…Not good.
April 14th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
yeah, I’m just not going to potty train HAHA.
Thanks all for showing me that my hardest days are still ahead of me. UGH!
April 15th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
uh…16 sucks.