Any suggestions?

My son is normally a very sweet, loving boy and now that he turned three we have definitely seen a drop off in the tantrum department (thank goodness!). The only problem we are having with him right now is with the phrase "shut up." When I tell him to do something he doesn't agree with, he says, "No, shut up." I have tried everything to get him to stop doing this and it seemed to get better for a couple of months, but now he is doing it again full force and worse than ever.

I have put him in "time-out" in the corner as well as in his room. He yells out from his room "shut up, shut up, shut up." I have tried simply ignoring him which seems to work for the time being, but he will still say it again the next time he doesn't get his way. I have tried washing his mouth out with soap. He did hate the taste and I thought it would work, but he said it again later that day.

I will ask the pre-school teacher tomorrow when I go in to substitute if she has any suggestions, and I would love to hear any from my readers as well. At this point, we will try anything, so give me your craziest ideas - I want to hear them all. Thanks!

Abrupt change in toddler behavior

I've been battling with the "terrible twos" attitude my son has had for a very long time now, and finally I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel. It seems like all of a sudden his attitude is much better on a daily basis overall. He wakes up with smiles instead of screams and when you ask him a question he answers nicely instead of always saying "NO".

Mealtimes have been a lot less stressful lately too, which is directly related to the little one's behavior. We used to have a full four hours a day of whiny, pouty sounds from him, and now that has completely stopped. The weird thing is, I've been trying to figure out what has changed in our lives and really there is nothing. If anything, the kids have been going to bed later than usual since it doesn't get dark until after 8:00pm. But you can't tell me less sleep would improve a kid's behavior, could it??? Regardless, I am very glad this phase is passing and happy to see my son's smile regularly again.