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wow - my heart goes out to you Craig. I have no idea how my wife and I would handle it.
we've been so blessed with Graham (ironically, all the anecdotal evidence we've heard is that girls are the tempermental ones). he really never had much issue sleeping. when he was younger I was working late, and he'd sleep until 10am. Now that he's 2 1/2, he's getting up earlier - usually 7:30 when the wife gets up, but hangs out with us upstairs whiles she's getting ready for work. he naps from 1 to 4 in the afternoon, and then goes down at 8 or 8:30. the clockwork sleep schedule he's on is a tremendous help to us.
overally, he's a pretty great kid. he does tend to get himself worked up into little fits over the smallest of things (to the point that he surely doesn't remember WHY he was crying in the first place). his mother tends to do similar stuff (she definitely sweats the small stuff), so it's pretty understandable. but we're really working to make sure he knows how to keep his temper in check (when he's frustrated with a toy, we tell him to take a "deep breath" - it really tends to help him). we also are very careful not to let him win too many battles - he gets a cookie after lunch, for example, but not if he doesn't eat most of his plate. if he doesn't want to do something, he gets two choices - the thing we want him to do, or to go to his room. he'll always end up choosing A.
the only area we are having trouble is potty training. he just doesn't want to do it, and gets terrible upset if we force the issue. we've tried EVERYTHING. both his friends (9 and 13 months older) have been potty trained for some time, and he knows this. he knows everyone uses the potty. he knows he gets his beloved M&M's if he sits on the potty, but he just wont do it. the worst part is, when we do try, it puts him in a miserable funk of a mood. I tried several times yesterday, and the rest of the day he was just sad - the slightest little think made him upset. We know he'll eventually come around, but we would LOVE to have him trained by the time the new baby comes...but it doesn't look too good.
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