Still sniffing in his sleep

That is so ADORABLE!! Your brother sounds like SUCH a hunny.. sweet

Yeah, I'll let you know how I'm coping... Can you tell i'm already sweating bullets here?

Thanks again for all the advise, I really really appreciate it!
xx

Yeah, Brandon is also a "drawer type", but there you just need to stay on your toes and stop / distract as he heads for them.
My mother, in laws and brother all have a certain drawer allocated for my boys with a whole lot of pretty harmless things in them (which they change occassionally - bless them) for the boys to play with. They have learnt that that is "their" drawer.

The sleep crying could be that he is over tired / over stimulated, have you tried moving sleep time to a bit earlier ?
And if you feel his crying is getting a bit much for you to handle, put him in his cot and leave for a few minutes, just to collect yourself. A calmer you might just calm him down.

He is starting with the terrible 2's and the manipulation is gonna start. His needs are the only needs that matter to him, he has no concept of anyone elses needs or feelings - that foaming at the mouth thing you had this morning is the start of his tantrums, you need to find a way to deal with them NOW, otherwise they are only gonna get worse.
Wish I could offer advise on that, but having my own issues with Liam where absolutly nothing works, he is way too stubborn, so if you find something - help me out there

Wow guys, I thought I would just have another winge, but there is some seriously good advise here and for a change I will be using ALL of it! (must buy wine. I dont need much these days to take the edge off anyway)
Best get some lady finger biscuits. He is defs big enough now. Poor boy has waited long enough.
I have also started to reasses my sleep making routine, I simply cant rock him for x amount of time any more, he's too big. So I sit on the bed and hold him and rock him like that and talk quietly in swushy sounds, but as soon as he feels the dudu bug grab him, he screams, with his eyes closed! This makes me very angry, but anyway, I'm hoping it will pass.. And when all these teeth are out it will be over!
I am however allergic to being screamed at, and Jude is really going for it again today, um, ALL day?
Thanks for that also Claire A, 'no child under 3 is naughty' I also like that my little guy has a bit of guts, this way I know he'll be ok later in life. He is however driving me crazy and I'm starting to think he always will! O, I do take the box of toys, but he's more a drawers kinda kid. (help)
He gets so worked up about things sometimes, this morning he was litterally foaming at the mouth (litterally) heart pounding, because he wanted to go outside! Hysterical, he ended up still sniffing whilst asleep and then... slept for 3 hours?? Clearly super tired?
I feel so bad when I realize that he's gotten so worked up.

Oh yes I forgot to mention the glass of wine! I would pour myself a glass at dinner and it took the edge off sleep time for Dylan.

First all - you do not have an unhappy child, you have a toddler !!!

The fact that he was exploring the DVD player is a good sign that he is perfectly normal, if he was NOT doing it, then you worry about his emotional state as an unhappy child would sit listlessly.

Liam also screamed and shouted and acted as if I was beating him whenever I tried to put him down for a nap, let my ex-domestic or my hubby do it and he goes down laughing. Don't ask me why, I gave up trying to analyse it ages ago, I just accept it and go with it.

They pick up on your emotions, so before you try to get him to sleep, take a moment to breath, you are probably going into his room anxious and expecting the fight, so that is what you are getting.

He is teething, so that will just add to his niggliness - it is damn sore, and the molars are amongst the most painful, so give both yourself and him a breather on that - put a teething gel/powder about 5 minutes before he is due for a nap.

As Jules said, have a good sleepy time routine, and stick to it for both naps and nighttime sleeps. Obviously skipping the bath portion for day naps. Start setting up his sleepy time comfort toys. It sometimes helps to pop whatever the item is under your shirt for a while so it picks up your mommy scent.

As for your inlaws shouting and hitting him - you need to chat to them and explain that "too many cooks spoil the broth" - too many people ordering him around just confuses him, and that attributes to his "misbehaviour" - I put that in invert commas cos as far as he is concerned he is not misbehaving, merely exploring and that is perfectly normal. No child under 3 is naughty ! A child under 3 has no concept of good and bad, all he sees is something interesting and wants to check it out - perfectly normal. He has no concept of mine & yours, he just wants to figure it out.

At his age distraction works best, make sure you have toys along, or just get up and take him for a stroll around the house, show him mirrors, plants etc.

And one of the best pieces of advise I ever recieved was if I have reached the screaming stage, I have left it too long. So now when I feel my blood just starting to heat up, I distract LO, or leave them for a while and lock myself in my bathroom for a few minutes. That way I can go back calmly and things do not deteriorate into a screaming , smacking fest.

Hi memo,
I have been meaning to reply to this all day. I was in exactly the same situation. Screaming at nap time (him and me!) and me basically broken and desperate for a stiff drink by 5pm!

One day I just decided ENOUGH!

We now have a new routine. At 3h or 3.5h for the later nap, we go into a quiet dark room (screaming starts) and have a nappy change (still acreaming but less). I sing to him while changing his nappy (same sorry everytime) then we sit in the couch, he has his dummy, I rock and we chat quietly. Then I stop chatting and just let him hold my fingers while still rocking. The first time it took about 10 minutes when he just put his head on my chest and fell asleep. It now takes under 2m. I dunno if it would work with your son but worth a shot maybe? As has made my day far less stressful though I can tell you!

Re hitting, you smack my child and i'll klap you so fast your head will spin! James gets the odd smack in the hand from me when he goes for electric outlets or the oven but those are dangerous things that will always be dangerous. I read somewhere you should reserve "no's" and punishments foe things that matter and are ling term off limits. For everything else distraction distraction! A ladyfingers biscuit works wonders!

Lol @ Memo, re: the munching.
But yes, what you allow your child to touch or not touch in your household is your thing, but when at someone else's house, we have to obviously respect their rules and thus teach our children to respect their rules as well.

Example:my sisters children play with all their electronic equipment to the point where her 1 year old son knows how to work an IPOD and her 4 year old daughter can work her dads IPAD better than I can. DH used to put his cellphone down and then get upset when 1 of the children took it and I had to politely explain to him that he cannot make the rules in someone else's house - in this house, children can play with any electronic item left lying around, so if you don't want them touching yours, put it in your pocket, simple as that. And the opposite applies when they come to my house, they know that in my household children only plays with toys, so they have to respect that.