I don’t like my toddler.
My little one was a easy baby. So loving. Even entering toddlerhood the big feelings moments were not nearly as horrible as they are now. She listens well and we hardly have to repeat ourselves until she says okay mommy or daddy. This past week her behavior has been horrible. She is giving me nasty looks when I am smiling at her. She crosses her arms at me. She screams at the top of her lungs saying go away, leave me alone, no, etc. We have her in preschool half time and her teachers have no complaints, she is always very passive and friendly. To top it off, she hits me so much. She will dig her nails into my arms and swing her arms and hit me. She will also use her head to try to hit me when I hold her arms at her side to try to stop the hitting. We never spank her back and we are firm with her on timeouts but even that she will fight so hard whereas before she would go and sit down on timeout no issues. She is turning 3 in the summer. I’m at a loss as to why she is acting so out of the ordinary. I want to chalk it up to be developmentally normal but there are zero sweet moments with her now. Even when she sits with me she will look at me and clench her jaw and push her head really hard into me or only want her dad. I just want to cry cuz I feel guilty for feeling like I don’t like her at all. I’ll always love her but it’s like the sweet kind cuddly girl she was has been possessed by this feral mean abusive toddler. Please help me, am I alone in this? Are there any other moms going through this because for some reason when I talk about this with other moms they are all shocked that she knows to hit and thinking that we showed her the hitting. Why the hell would I expose her to hitting?! I only have one mom friend who said her child also hits and it was not like she was taught that, kids just do that right? I’m at a loss.
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