101 Reasons My Toddler Had a Tantrum… Today

As many of you know, Nora has always been somewhat of a high-maintenance child. She is super cute, smart, funny, and creative. But with her sensory issues, overly anxious personality, and overall “touchy” disposition, it doesn’t take much to push her over the edge.

Add in the fact that she’s right in the middle of the “terrible threes” and it’s not a huge surprise that we experience many MANY tantrums on a daily basis. I do think some of them are triggered by her sensory issues… but I have a feeling MOST of them are pretty normal “3-year-old issues”.

Last week, we had one particularly rough day… and when Dave got home from school, I felt like I could immediately crawl into bed and sleep all night long. It was just SO frustrating and exhausting to deal with toddler tantrums throughout the day.

I’m sure MANY of you can (or could) relate at one point in your life!

That night, after the kids were in bed, I felt the need to channel my frustration somehow. The only thing I could think of was making a list (you know I love my lists) of every little thing that caused her to have a tantrum that day. After I was finished, I realized it was actually a pretty hilarious list — and I figured it might make a somewhat humorous blog post.

So without further adieu, here are 101 Nora had a tantrum (yes, all in one day).

101 Reasons My Toddler Had a Tantrum… Today

1. Because I put her back in bed when she woke up at 5:00am
2. Because she apparently still wasn’t tired at 6:00am (so we got up)
3. Because she peed through her pajama pants and it didn’t feel good
4. Because I made her change her pee-soaked pants
5. Because I made her wash her hands after going to the bathroom
6. Because I turned on the warm water to wash hands and she “doesn’t like that water”
7. Because her hands got cold after washing them with the cold water
8. Because her socks didn’t feel right
9. Because her robe was turned inside out and she couldn’t get it on
10. Because she couldn’t find her slippers
11. Because she was SOOOOOOO hungry
12. Because 2 of the grapes I gave her were “mashy”
13. Because 1 waffle wasn’t enough
14. Because I wouldn’t give her a marshmallow after breakfast
15. Because she drank all her water and was still thirsty
16. Because she dragged her sleeve through some of the syrup from her waffle
17. Because we changed the syrup-stained shirt
18. Because I needed to brush her hair and it apparently was “ouchy”
19. Because I put a ponytail in her hair to keep it out of her face
20. Because she noticed a microscopic cut on her finger
21. Because the Band Aid I put on the microscopic cut didn’t feel right
22. Because the Band Aid she took off the cut (after I told her not to) wouldn’t stick when she tried to put it on again
23. Because Simon was now awake and he was playing with some of her toys
24. Because she lost the cap to one of her dry erase markers so it dried up
    

    
    yes, it’s only about 8:00am at this point

25. Because we couldn’t go upstairs to play until we picked up the living room
26. Because I wouldn’t pick everything up for her
27. Because Simon had to come upstairs with us and couldn’t just stay in his crib
28. Because it wasn’t Sunday and we couldn’t eat cinnamon rolls
29. Because Dad was gone at work all day
30. Because she didn’t have enough pillows for all her dolls to have their very own
31. Because she couldn’t find her tiny duck finger puppet
32. Because Simon touched her favorite flashlight
33. Because she couldn’t build as tall of a block tower as she wanted to
34. Because her cut finger was REALLY REALLY REALLY hurting
35. Because I gave her a timeout for slamming a door (which I’ve asked her not to do repeatedly)
36. Because I asked her to say, “sorry for slamming the door” and she just didn’t have any ‘sorrys’ left to say
37. Because I said she shouldn’t run with her Princess Elsa high heel shoes on
38. Because she fell while running with her Princess Elsa high heel shoes on
39. Because I asked her to stop picking her nose
40. Because I wiped her nose
41. Because it wasn’t lunch time yet and I still wouldn’t let her have any marshmallows (I did say she could have a banana)
42. Because her play cash register wasn’t working properly
43. Because I had to go downstairs to put Simon down for a nap (this literally takes me 5-7 minutes)
44. Because I finally said “no” to her request for “one more book” after 45 minutes straight of reading
45. Because she couldn’t decide which of her TWO coloring books to color out of and my suggestions were no good
46. Because she couldn’t find the exact right color of crayons to use for her picture
47. Because I wouldn’t let her get in Simon’s crib (while he was still sleeping)
48. Because she was SOOOOO hungry for lunch
49. Because I made her go to the bathroom before lunch
50. Because I made her wash her hands (again) after going to the bathroom
51. Because her shirt sleeves got a little wet while washing her hands
    

    
    lunch time… finally!
    

52. Because she only wanted pickles and Cheetos for lunch
53. Because she couldn’t finish her lunch but still wanted a cookie… and I told her no cookie unless she finished her lunch
54. Because she realized she forgot to wear her bib after she was finished eating her lunch
55. Because it hurt her cut when I wiped her hands after lunch
56. Because I had to go to a Dr. appointment after lunch
57. Because I came home from the Dr. appointment which meant Nana went home
58. Because she was SOOOOO hungry for a snack
59. Because I apparently didn’t give her the right ratio of goldfish crackers to pretzels for her snack
60. Because she drank all her water… again
61. Because she was too warm
62. Because I asked her not to mix all the PlayDoh colors
63. Because she couldn’t find her PlayDoh rolling pin
64. Because a delivery person dropped off a package and she didn’t recognize him
65. Because I wouldn’t open the package immediately once it arrived
66. Because Dave came home from school and was ready to play with her (obviously, I can see why this upset her)
67. Because Dave was going to play with Simon too
68. Because I wouldn’t give her another snack right before dinner
69. Because I cooked dinner without her
70. Because Dave wouldn’t let her feed Simon
71. Because we had to pick up before dinner
    

    
    dinner time at last

72. Because she didn’t want a smoothie with her dinner
73. Because she drank her smoothie and we wouldn’t give her more until she ate some of her other food
74. Because she realized there were frozen blueberries in her smoothie and she apparently only likes frozen blueberries “out of her smoothie”
75. Because she couldn’t eat her eggs and only had room for a cookie
76. Because we didn’t give her a cookie
77. Because we asked her to stop trying to “help” Simon walk
78. Because she was pretending to be a bunny and was stuck at the top of the stairs and I wouldn’t go up there to carry her down
79. Because we let her watch Curious George but it wasn’t the right episode
80. Because it was time to clean up the toys
81. Because she didn’t want to take a shower
82. Because (after I explained tonight was not a “shower night”) she DID want to take a shower
83. Because her usual pajama pants were in the laundry (filled with pee) and she had to wear different pants
84. Because I had to take her ponytail out and brush her hair before going to bed
85. Because she wanted Dave to read the book completely out of chronological order (they are reading her first chapter book, a little every night)
86. Because she couldn’t decide on a bedtime snack
87. Because she didn’t want to brush her teeth
88. Because she didn’t want to wash her hands
89. Because her cut finger still really hurt
90. Because we were all out of the tiny Band Aids for her finger
    

    
    early bed time tonight!
    

91. Because she didn’t want to go to bed
92. Because she was so tired she couldn’t sleep
93. Because she couldn’t get comfy in her bed
94. Because her pillow wasn’t in the perfect spot
95. Because Annie the doll didn’t have the right blanket
96. Because the next day still wasn’t Sunday
97. Because Dave had to go to school the next day
98. Because the book we were going to read had a rip in it
99. Because I wouldn’t read more than 1 book (we always only read 1 book in her bed)
100. Because I wouldn’t leave her bedroom light on all night long (she has 2 nightlights)
101. Because her door wasn’t open to the exact right angle and it was too dark in her room

So there you have it — a day in the life of my three-year-old! 

Obviously, this was a really bad day for us… but many of these tantrums do happen every single day (specifically washing her hands and snacks!) Some are more mild tantrums, while others are full-blown, crying-on-the-floor tantrums.

I will say that we still ended the night on a good note with a kiss goodnight and saying “I love you” before I went downstairs and crashed on the couch for a bit.

For the record, I would say Nora is generally quite fun to be around — and she regularly has us doubled over laughing. We’ve just been experiencing a bit of a rough patch lately… I can only imagine what the teen years will bring!