Alex has a lot of fear these days. Many of them have to do with loud sounds or unexpected sounds, like a lawnmower or an alarm going off. Some are simply the fear of being alone.
These fears are slowly driving me insane.
I am trying very hard to alleviate these fears, and to help him work through them. We have many talks about smoke alarms – why they’re good, why they go off, why we need them. I try to help him overcome his fears, by helping him use the hand dryers in the bathroom (the old kind with the push buttons – he won’t go near the new ones that want to blow your skin off. And really, who can blame him?).
Yet, it’s starting to feel as if nothing I do actually helps him, and it’s starting to have some fall out.
The biggest issue we have right now is his nearly complete inability to be alone for more than a minute or so a time. What this boils down to is that I cannot pee by myself, nor can he. He has to be in the bathroom with me, or I with him – actually in the bathroom. Standing in the hall is not allowed. Watching from another room is not allowed. Both of us must be in the bathroom while the other is doing their business.
I can’t do it anymore! I want to go pee without someone asking me a bazillion questions about smoke alarms and trucks and planes! I just want to pee! If I ask him to stand in the hall, or - worse yet – tell him to, he throws a tantrum.
Oh, and don’t get me started on the tantrums. We are tantrum city up in this house! Everything is met with resistance, and as if I’m just a mommy dictator usurping his freedom!
I know I’m not alone in this. I know that this is part of age 3, but it’s really hard to remember that when some little person is standing right under you while you’re trying to dry your hair.
Really, all I want to do is use the bathroom without someone in there. That’s all. I just want to my business in peace…
(And yes, I’m aware I said I’d only post here on the weekends, but I’m too brain dead to pull together a design post tonight. 
)
I would say the biggest blessing of twins is that from the start, there has always been SO MUCH CRYING. By the time we reached age 3, I was like – go ahead and cry, I HAVE ALREADY HEARD IT. I’m peeing alone suckas.
Age 3 is such a boundary pushing, testing age. It is really exhausting. It gets so much better at 4, I promise!
Thanks Laura. I need to hear it gets better some days. I mean, I know it, but when I’m in the middle of it, it’s hard to remember that.