Is he acting out for attention

MarchMom06

or is this just general 3 yo (almost 4 yo) naughtiness? I'm in the throes of potty-training Nick, & Sam has been acting soooo naughty the past few days. DH is traveling & I have been spending a ton of time with Nick in the bathroom, helping him redress every time, washing hands, etc.

Tonight, I was getting Nick into bed & reading a story. Sam generally plays with his cars for 5ish minutes or watches a Little Einstein until I come to take him to bed & read a story. This process has worked for about a year. After getting Nick into bed tonight, I come out & Sam has a super guilty look on his face - he's taken all of the beading off of my Christmas sofa pillows & basically destroyed it with his teeth. Like an animal. And, hidden the evidence under the sofa.

He also got several timeouts tonight for hitting Nick. Also pretty unusual, but definitely getting more frequent.

I'm so frustrated with him right now, but I was just thinking that maybe he's jealous of all the attention I'm giving Nick during the potty training? At least all of my time in the bathroom is paying off - Nick had his first accident-free day today! WOO HOO!! I did not have to clean crap out of underwear for the first time in a month.

ETA: Sam is almost 4 (birthday in February), & Nick is almost 3 (birthday in March)

CubbyMama

I can tell you that, out of nowhere, my 3-year-old has become really challenging in the past week.  We thought she was doing great with the baby, and really don't know whether it's a delayed (by 8 months?!) reaction to having a new sibling, or if it's just being 3, or what.  She's now hitting/pushing/biting her sister, lying, and throwing fits constantly some days.  I'm just trying really hard to play directly with her as much as I can, to model how to interact with her sister, and to not pull out a .40 in a brown paper bag every time she pulls something new.

MarchMom06

CubbyMama:

I can tell you that, out of nowhere, my 3-year-old has become really challenging in the past week.  We thought she was doing great with the baby, and really don't know whether it's a delayed (by 8 months?!) reaction to having a new sibling, or if it's just being 3, or what.  She's now hitting/pushing/biting her sister, lying, and throwing fits constantly some days.  I'm just trying really hard to play directly with her as much as I can, to model how to interact with her sister, and to not pull out a .40 in a brown paper bag every time she pulls something new.

Exactly! At least I'm not alone. :-)