My Wild and Wonderful 4 year olds

I remember a few months back when my friend became troubled by her 4 year old's behavior and was so relieved to find Your Four Year Old: Wild and Wonderful. She immediately recommended it to me and suggested I read it before the boys turned 4 just to be prepared. At the time, we were sailing along blissfully, well almost, so I thought I wouldn't need to read it. But something did start to happen in the last few months to my sweet little boys. Okay, they have always been very high energy and liam has been known to throw a temper tantrum or two, but now, well, they are, yes, wild and I am working on the perspective shift to wonderful.

So here is how the author describes the 4 year old:

very social
likes new places, ideas, etc.
high energy
fluid movement--from one task to the next to the next to the next....
hates and loves passionately
likes to step out of bounds
likes to use profanity and enjoys anything that has to do with poop
silly, silly, silly!
obsessed with violence

That's what I remember from the book and it does describe my boys to the tee! I have to say that I ,too, was so relieved after reading this book. Knowing that this can be normal behavior actually makes me much more understanding. I guess you can say that this is a phase that I have struggled with and have become the parent I don't want to be at times. So now I am getting back on track. I will let go of my resistance to this behavior and find strategies for me to cope with it and we will continue to sail along!