by Joanna Venditti posted in Parenting

Just when I thought we were out of the woods with the infant and toddler phases, I was smacked right across the cheek. Literally.
As I reached up to touch my burning skin and turned to see who, out of my four kids, was the offender, I heard a smash as a toy was flung across the room followed by shrieks and tears.
I am currently going through a brutal phase with my twins... the threenager phase, which is not that different from having a teenager.

Threenager: (Threen-ney-jer)

A 3-year-old, whose emotions are magnified, will wear what she pleases, refuse hair-brushing, wants to be in charge at all times and might resort to violence if necessary.
In the past, with my older kids, I saw glimpses of threenager-hood, but mostly looked forward to age 3 (and up) as the golden years. With age 3 comes language, comprehension, sleeping through the night, more independence, and no more diapers. But I have never experienced the magnitude of a full blown threenager... let alone two of them. Half the time I don't know if I should laugh, or cry until this phase passes. But one thing's for sure, I need to survive it, and here's how I have been doing that...
1. Don't look your threenager in the eye. I probably hear myself saying "give your sisters space" about ten times a day to our big kids. I feel badly in a way, because all our 6 and 8-year-old wants to do is cuddle their adorable baby sisters. But those days are gone. Even eye contact th...