my little threenager

In less than 2 months, my biggest monkey, Monkey Man will be 3. I'm more sad about this than happy. And by sad, I mean really sad, because somehow the move from 2 to 3 means he's really and truly 100% not a baby anymore. My little boy is growing up. He's going to be a threenager.

Its a shame really that right now he's known as Tantrum Ted and he's clearly not aware he's about to grow up so much. For the last few weeks Monkey Man has been throwing massive tantys, he's been rather difficult to deal with and seriously, give me strength, he gives new meaning to the word argumentative. I've been defining this as a period of regression but the more I think about it, I think he's hit the throws of the threenage year early. It makes sense. He hit the terrible twos early, over a year early and that was horrendous. His world was turned upside down though when he became a big brother at exactly 1 year old so we accepted it as a phase and rode it out.  Oh what a bumpy ride it was. There were very genuine moments when I wondered if he would smother Missy Moo with a pillow and spent many days on edge, worried to leave them alone together. To see them together now you'd never know there was any hiccups. Missy Moo had a meltdown yesterday as I dropped Monkey Man at a friends place so I could do an emergency dash to the shops. They just adore each other despite fighting like cat and dog at times.

12 months later he became a big brother again, and this time he handled it so well. He wasn't really phased by Little Miss, he ignored her for a few weeks and then he was more interested in cuddling her and helping with her feeds or getting a nappy for her. Missy Moo's reaction to becoming a big sister at 1 year old was much worse but thats another story altogether. He's so lovely with Little Miss, he cuddles her, tells her its ok when she cries, tells me that she wants her mummy when she is crying, or daddy if I'm in a mood.

I figured that the issues with his own behaviour; wanting a cuddle, extra bedtime stories, throwing a tanty over the petty things etc etc were a form of regression and would be over soon. Or perhaps its his way of acting up like kids do when a sibling arrives, and he's just doing it 9mths later. But the more I read about it, the more I believe we're dealing with a threenager a few months early. The question is, how to deal with it? And how will I cope with a threenager and a girl suffering the terrible twos at the same time?

In all seriousness, you may as well pass the bourban right now because if Little Miss decides to hit her terrible twos a year early like Monkey Man did, I am confident I will go insane. In fact, just show me to my ward in the looney bin now please. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, just go directly to jail. At least I might get to pee there without one of my little people throwing a tanty as they can't come with me, or a tanty because I won't let them unroll the entire roll of bog roll, or a tanty because they came with me and my pee didn't last as long as they wanted it to.
Seriously, can I get that bourban intravenously???