Terrible Threes?

Most of the time my posts include cute little stories about the latest events, phrases, etc. in Mikey's life.  Today we are going to shed some light on his recent imperfection.  Sigh.

Whenever we are getting ready to leave the house---to run an errand, go on a road trip, whatever----Mikey is given PLENTY of notification ahead of time.  At the time he is excited and willing to leave the house.  However, when the actual moment of leaving the house occurs, we have been greeted with tantrums (throwing himself down on the ground, running back to his room to snuggle with his lovey, crying, kicking his feet....).  Being that I am now 33 weeks pregnant and Mikey is weighing 37 pounds,  picking him up is not a preferred method for me.  On Tuesday I started the process of leaving the house at 8:00----we got in the car at 8:30.  Yesterday we FINALLY left for Eva's at 8:50 (which is very late for us).

Today's experience tops the cake.  Each night when I tuck Mikey in, we review the day of the week, what happened during the day and what we would be looking forward to doing the next day.  Last night he was so happy that today was Friday and we would be going to My Gym.  (**As a side note, we have been dragging Mikey around to plenty of furniture stores and other not-so-fun-places for a toddler recently, so I get his hesitation, but not every destination can be fun for him, right?!?!)  So as 12:30 approached, Mikey went potty by himself, put on his sweatshirt and sneakers independently so we could leave for My Gym.  Once we got downstairs (which is a whole other process----I will NEVER have a garage under my house in the future again!), Mikey decided he wanted to check out the grass and started walking around.  I said, "We can come back and check out the grass.  Now it's time to go to My Gym."  And the look came.  He immediately became defiant.  His feet didn't move, like they were stuck in cement.  Finally, I was able to nudge him along and he made no effort to climb into the car or car seat.  After some words of encouragement and attempts to distract him (and still no effort on his part) I pulled the dreaded "threat".  "Do you want to go to My Gym or stay home and take a nap?". Guess what the fresh mouth responded with?  Yup, nap.  "I want to go upstairs and take a nap in my bed."  And so the threat needed to be followed through.  I tried one more attempt at getting him in the car (FAIL) and then we proceed upstairs.  He took off his jacket and shoes and went directly to his bed.   I put the gate up at his door and kissed him goodnight.  Within minutes he was at the door whining "Mommy? Mommy?".  From the couch I told him, "Mikey, it's naptime now.  I'll see you when you wake up".  And now silence is here.

Some days he doesn't have a choice and we will have to wrestle him in the car seat (Mommy and Daddy errands, going to Eva's, etc.).  Today he had a choice to go someplace fun and declined.  So I followed through.  I feel so bad that he is missing out on something he enjoys so much but at the same time he needs to understand that if he doesn't cooperate, he can't always do what he wants.

Sigh.  I hope this passes before baby comes.  Getting one kid out of the house now is a challenge.  I cannot imagine what TWO will be like (especially when one will be on such an unpredictable schedule). AHHHH!!!