Terrible Threes

Ahh, 3-year-olds. I love this age in so many ways, but in so many others it can be really tough. All the battles of the wills, the flyings-off the handle at the drop of a hat, and the attempts to always get one's way can be more than a bit trying. As in the enormous temper tantrum Julia threw yesterday because her friend Wyatt had dared to open up her container of Little People and start playing with them. The end result of the big melt-down was Julia up in her room in time-out, screaming for about fifteen minutes, both about the Little People, and about the fact that she had thrown Kitty (her security object that she sleeps with at night) behind her dresser in anger, had then pulled the dresser askew and noticed a web and what she said was a spider behind the dresser, and was too terrified to retrieve Kitty. When she was calm and under control she was able to come back downstairs, and we wound up leaving Kitty behind the dresser because I was in no mood to crawl around behind it after she had thrown it there in the midst of her fit. So when we were getting her ready for bed last night, she remembered about Kitty, and the following conversation ensued:

JULIA: Uh, can you get kitty from behind my dresser, because there's a spider there.
ME: (looking behind dresser) I don't think we can get kitty, because he's in a cobweb and now I need to wash him.
JULIA: But he was in a spider web and Daddy, I want you to smoosh that spider.
ETHAN: (looking) I'm not sure if I see a spider.
ME: It's just a cobweb back there.
JULIA: (enthusiastically) Yeah, Daddy, there's a cobweb! So it's a SPIDER!
ME: But Julia, you're not going to be able to use that kitty tonight, because now I need to wash it. Do you want to use your other kitty? (pointing to identical, but cleaner, newer, unfaded version that we had to buy when we forgot Kitty on an overnight trip.)
JULIA: No, I just want my other kitty.
ME: Well, I told you that you can't have that one tonight because I need to wash it. You made a choice to throw kitty in an unwise place because you were having a fit, so now the consequence is that kitty is too dirty to use. You can use your other kitty.
JULIA: (grumpily) I don't want to sleep with ANY kitties.
ME: Okay, fine.
We then got into bed and I turned to the first page of her bedtime story.
JULIA: But Mom, what am I supposed to use instead of kitty?
ME: I already told you that you can use your other kitty, but you said no.
JULIA: I said No, yes!

Ahh, I see. I had not realized that when she said she didn't want to sleep with any kitties, that meant "no, yes," which apparently means she did want to sleep with her other kitty. Silly me.

And on a completely unrelated topic, I tried teaching Julia how to sing "Frere Jacques" as a round yesterday. She got the hang of it pretty well at the start of the song; she starts to lose the pitch towards the end, but still, not too shabby for a 3-year-old. I did get a video of us singing together; she's come a long way since her "Fredda Jacques, dog my food" days!: