Tim at 3yo

Tim is very physical, always climbing, running and exploring. He is full of initiatives, which are not always appreciated by his parents, and is very persistent and determined when he wants something. He always has been a very spirited kid, starting temper tantrums when he was 11mo, improving them until at 18mo he was able to regularly throw a temper tantrum for 3 or 4 hours straight! He is mellowing out somewhat, his tantrums are now usually between 5 and 20 minutes, which is a huge improvement.

He is a very robust kid. With all the climbing he also falls a lot, but he usually just gets up again and continues climbing. He does not cry very often when he falls, or when he does, he does not cry for a very long time.

He has been potty trained for a few months already! Of course he waited until we had bought 2 of the big boxes of Pampers, and then he almost fully potty trained within a few days. Oh well....

Tim just got his second set of tubes (his first set was at 8mo). We hope this will take care of his hearing problems and his mild speech delay. He also is starting speech therapy to take care of the delay.

He is bilingual. He speaks and understands both Dutch and English. He speaks Dutch with us, but he usually speaks English with Cees.

If you look at the picture on the left, you will notice the let's say, colorful pants. I made these for him, because he totally refused to wear shorts the summer of his third birthday. Since the weather was pretty hot, I decided to get some light fabric and make some pants for him. I took him with me to the fabric store and let him choose from the light cottons whichever he wanted. This one was the one he decided on!!! And it became his favorite pair of pants that summer!

Parenting Tim always has been a challenge, but it is better now he is a little bit older. He still has his times, but they do not last 24 hours a day anymore. Now he usually has a few episodes a day when he is really difficult and is relatively easy the rest of the time. He actually often is a joy to be with, singing and humming and generally happy. What a difference with 1.5 years ago!

He still isn't sleeping though, our sleep wars with him are ongoing. It seems impossible for him to fall asleep at night, he doesn't seem to be able to relax himself enough to fall asleep. We have tried literally everything, and have not found anything that works! Once he is asleep, he usually is fine. He still does wake up, but then comes over to our bed, and sleeps on with us, not even waking us up. He still nurses, mostly at night, rarely during any other time of the day.