Terrible threes.

I am a victim of the terrible threes. Nope not terrible twos, although we did have some rough days, but the horrible terrible threes.  I have decided I need a break from my kids, and here is why....

The Cookie Theif.

The Wednesday before St. Patricks day I decided I would make some sugar cookies.  It was perfect timing because I could take more than half of them to those I visit teach, and we would have a little treat, but not too much temptation. Well apparently, Nixon had too much temptation!

I had bundled up the prettiest cookies as the ones I would give away... obviously! I had them all prepared, and had taken 3 of the plates out on that Wednesday night. I left some on a plate for our family, and put the others up higher so that Nixon could not get to them. I also put them in a Ziploc bag to make it more of a challenge for Nixon, especially since the ones he could eat were wide open on a plate! I had told him he was allowed to eat the ones from the plate, but to ask first, and not to touch the other ones. I even repeatedly showed him which ones were good and which ones were bad. Well Thursday morning I woke up and noticed a few of the cookies on the family plate missing, which was fine. I talked to Nixon, and said I would like him to ask first, but was not mad at him. Then Friday morning came. As the number of cookies had dwindled down a bit from being around a few days, I knew I  had to keep the ones for the lady I visit taught safe. I moved them to a harder spot for Nixon to get too Thursday night, and also put a piece of bread in the bag to make sure they stayed soft. Well that morning, I went into Nixons room and saw him eating a piece of bread. I knew we did not have any left in the house except for my special piece I had just put in the cookie bag last night. His reply. "Good cookies Mom!" I was ticked, but thought I could use some of our family cookies to give to my friend if Nixon had really eaten the saved ones. Nope. He had eaten the bag of 4 cookies, and either took a bite of every other cookie in the house, or ate the icing off of the top. Oh boy was I ticked! He made a HUGE mess in his room, and in the kitchen and the little turd ate pretty much ALL of the cookies. There were not to salvage and take to my friends, but she did enjoy the story, and Nixon was even there to back me up when I told her what had happened.

I have to laugh though, because I used to always find the smarties chocolates in my parents house growing up and eat them all. I guess like mother like son!

The Game Lover.

Nixon recently has had a big interest in playing games with the family. We have some kid friendly ones such as Candy-land, Snakes and Ladders, and Trouble so that we can have a fun game night with him and help him to learn how to be a good sport.

Nixon LOVES Candy-land, and any one that plays with him instantly becomes his best friend. He is pretty good at it because he loves to count, so he really doesn't even need our help unless he starts to get bored.
Nixon also LOVES to bring everything into his room, especially while I am still sleeping early in the morning. Jeff will wake up to get ready for work/school, and Nixon will be hiding things in his bed, and most recently it has been either food (we will get to another story in a minute here) or games. One morning it was Candy-land, the next Dominoes, Sequence, Things in a Box, Snakes and ladders, Trouble, decks of cards, and the worst, Dominoes. I am glad he did not go for our expensive games that we love like ticket to ride, but come on, every morning he gets a talking to about spreading these games through out the house, but he doesn't seem to care! He gets in trouble, we have tried taking toys away, time outs, spanking, NOTHING WORKS! We tell him the rules, we try to be firm, and we are being consistent, but we are not getting through to him!
Any suggestions here?
I have locked up the games in a big bin and put heavy bins on top of it to stop this for now because I do not want to have missing pieces to a bunch of games, or have them be ruined because hes three, and still drools, and does not take care of things too well... I hope tomorrow morning we do not hear a big crash and have these bins falling down on him. I just do not know what else to do! They are even in a room he is not allowed in, our guest room. All day long he doesn't even bother it, he acts like the room isn't even there... but during the night when we are all asleep, we have come to know he is really searching through it and being a pest.

Bed Bugs.

No not real bed bugs, but I told Nixon that he was going to have a bed full of bugs if he didn't stop it!

To go along with hiding everything else in his bed, Nixon has also been taking food from the kitchen, and bringing it back to his bed to eat in there. We have a rule at our house, first off no food in rooms, second of all, Nixon is not allowed to get out of his room until 8am, which is when his "alarm clock" has a sun that "comes up" to show that it is morning time. Well, it worked for us in Rexburg, but since moving here the kid hates his room, and simply is done with trying to listen to us. I have even done everything I have tried to make his room comfortable.
(Little rant ahead...)
He has a huge bed, sweet Cars sheets, lamps, and night lights. I have noticed though that our "condo" is bad for sound, and his window is right where the walkways up to the front doors on our buildings are at, so a friend of mine suggested getting him a CD player and getting the Primary songs on CD for him to listen to at night. (I am a big fan of no noise at night because I think people get too attached to the idea, and also I don't want my kids having hearing issues), but I thought it sounded like a good idea, and went ahead and got one. Nope, doesn't make a difference.
(End of rant)
Anyways, Nixon gets up in the morning, before anyone else, and very quietly goes to the kitchen and will take things like Cookies, watermelon, applesauce, bread, cereal, etc back to bed with him. Its gross. At first I tried to explain that's why we have a table, and he can come get me to help him and when he wakes up I need to be with him, but no leaving his room until the sun comes up. Then after time and time again, I am just getting mad. I have been frustrated and trying to work with him, but he is a little stinker, and will not work with me.
So again, any suggestions???

See why I need a break? I am not even exaggerating, probably I am under exaggerating all of the things he has been up to. I wish I could lock everything up, or just lock him in his room, but sometimes he will call for us at like 3 or 4 in the morning to come and wipe his bum. Who Poos in the middle of the night?! I am just glad it is in the toilet....

Anyways, if you have any suggestions please let me know. I have been trying to get to his feelings, but he's a tough cookie, and hard to break through to.

Here are a few pics from last week......

Date night with our friends Pete and Lisa.

Hanging out at our pool!

St. Patricks Day I decided Oakley was ready for the booster, she loved it!

On Sunday in sacrament, I asked Nixon to draw me an E. This was his first go EVER, I was stoked, he is a boy genius... just not the best behaved one... 

Oakley sleeps so weird. She always pushes her chin way up and looks like a snob.

-K.