My fiance has an almost 3 year old from a previous relationship. He'll be 3 in October. He's generally a typical 2 1/2 year old, with tantrums and in the whole "mine phase" or saying no to everything. But he patience isn't his best virtue. When he wants more juice or water he'll literally throw a screaming/crying/hitting tantrum if you don't get up right then and there. We're trying to teach him that throwing tantrums doesn't get what he wants and he needs to say please. sometimes he'll say please if you tell him too. My fiance's aunt thinks he may be bi-polar, though it's WAY too soon for a diagnosis. One minute he's laughing and being goofy then out of nowhere he'll just start screaming and crying for no apparent reason. He also lives in a house where there is a 9 year old girl who has an "attitude problem" and disrespects her elders (me included). She's my fiance's cousin. If she doesn't want to do something you ask her to she'll either ignore you or say no. I personally think that Brandyn is picking up on this behavior and that's why he does this. She's also very mean to him. And I've caught her yelling at him and hitting him. Then she gets even more mad when he hits her. I've tried telling her that if he's acting up to tell an adult and let one of us deal with it. When I'm there, there is a total of 3-5 adults there. My fiance's grandfather is 100% blind so disciplining Brandyn is a little difficult for him. Brandyn generally listens to me an my fiance's aunt more than anyone. He's very smart for his age. He can count to 10, knows his animals and animal sounds, his alphabet and he can count to 5 in spanish. From what I've heard Brandyn wasn't a preemie. But he was 6 pounds (some odd ounces) and 23 inches long and on monitors for the first 2 days. Also, sometimes he REFUSES to take a nap and then stay up till about 11pm-midnight. The house calms down around 8pm. He'll wake up every couple hours and stay up. We don't think he's having nightmares, he doesn't thrash about in his sleep or make whimpering noises as most people do when having a nightmare. This happens even if he does have a nap sometimes. My fiance and I are trying to save up money to get our own place. We both think that this behavior is due to my fiance's cousin. While his aunt thinks he may have a disorder of some sort. Any input?
PS: I've posted about my fiance's son before with him not talking. Now, he will talk your ear off lol. He says: dad, mom, ma, mom-mom, beth (my fiance's cousin), dude, hi, hey, duck, cat, couch, cow, tree, please, thanks, dog, spongebob, cup, eat, bath, food, milk, juice, candy, mio (that water stuff), rose, outside, car. And more. He can also form sentences such as: I want that, Cause I can (he's a smart-butt), I'm bored. And more lol.