Two Year Old Son Is Never Happy

Try using Baby Signs. It's not a quick fix, it will take time for him to learn, but he shoudl catch on quickly especially if his sister hleps too. I got a book about it and it's really simple to use. You don't even need to read the whole book, just the first chapter or so, the rest is all repeating what the first chapter says. My son isn't old enough to use this yet, but I'm already starting so that I'll be in the habit when he's old enough.

Hello,
It is frustrating not being about to communicate with little ones, however by the age of two they should be able to understand and follow simple directions. If he were my child I would first have his hearing checked and make sure that he can hear you clearly. If he is having trouble hearing or everything sounds jarbled then it is affecting his ability to communicate with you. If you do not find anything wrong with his hearing I would talk to your doctor and find out if anything else is wrong medically. You would hate to think that it is just a boy thing if there is something medically wrong and it could have been addressed early.
Just my own opinion. I have taken care of alot of children in my daycare and have seen all developmental stages, but I would be concerned with his lack of speech and frustration level at the age of 2.
Good luck.

Have you ever had his hearing checked. You describe a lot of symptoms that children with hearing loss display. Good luck to you I know it must be frustrating, but I bet there is a solution to the problem.

I don't want to scare you or anything but my friend has a son like that and he has autism. Have you had your son screened? Also having a boy and a girl is like night and day. Nothing you do with one is going to be the same with the other.

Of course it wouldn't hurt to run your concerns by your pediatrician. But let me offer some reassurance that he could be developing normally! My own son was a "late talker" and didn't really get too vocal until after his 2nd birthday. He's almost 3 now and we can't keep him quiet! My daughter is only 20 months and has been talking quite a bit for the past few months now. My pediatrician alerted me to this that sometimes girls get vocal earlier than boys. Your son might be getting frustrated because he wants you to understand something he's trying to tell you but he's having trouble saying it and of course then you can't hear it. Try to take the time to speak with him, point to objects or colors and have him repeat them to you if he can. (It helps if it's things he likes such as trucks or favorite animals, etc...) Make a big deal out of it when he says the words right. Good luck, and if you think it's more than that of course you should just check with the doctor to see if he does indeed have a hearing deficit or something else. But I think he might just be frustrated that he's not keeping up with this sister, and that will likely be a lifelong back and forth battle since they're twins :)

Oh my goodness, when I read your post all I could think was that this sounded EXACTLY like my situation. When my son was 2 years old he still wasn't calling me mommy, he would babble ocassionally and even say a few words. When I couldn't figure out what he wanted or just whenever for what seemed like no reason at all he would throw huge tantrums and bang his head so hard on the ground. Everyone told me the same thing, he's a boy, he will come around. But like you I was still concerned. Finally, against all my families wishes I said something to his doctor. She immediately recommended a hearing test and a speech evaluation. His hearing test went great and they said that he could hear just fine. Then at the speech evaluation I got the terrible news. He was severely delayed in his speech. Now he goes 2 times a week for speech therapy and he is doing amazing! He no longer bangs his head on the ground and he is using sentences, this in only 2 months of therapy! Anyway, trust your instincts, if you think something is wrong it won't hurt to get it checked out. Besides the earlier you can catch anything the easier it is to repair. If you have any other questions or just want to chat, you can email me at ____@____.com Good Luck!

Like Shannon A, I had hearing troubles in both of my younger boys and their behavior was just like you described. The older one developed more problems because his hearing was not corrected like my youngest's was. We went through 2 years of speech therapy and his speech improved but his behavior did not.

The youngest boy had tubes put in and his hearing, speech and behavior did a complete turn around.

I would start there. When you know he can hear you can develop plans to deal with when he chooses to ignore.

I have a son which is 21 months old. I don't know if this helps any, but I will give you some examples of his behavior. Also, let me state that he gets so much attention from every person in his life, which is way more than most normal children, probably too much to be honest. He is probably not near has frustrated as most normal 2 year olds are. When he does not get his way, which is a lot of the time, he will, while standing, bend over and put the top of his head on the ground and just stand there with his little booty in the air. We call it the "stinkbug". He yells a lot when he is frustrated and says uh-uh (like no no). If he gets even more frustrated,usually because of discipline from having a fit, he starts screaming and crying. We do not curse around him or anything, but when he gets mad, he screams "Ice" a lot. I have no idea why, but he has done this for the past two months. I think it is definitely the terrible twos starting early and I really do think it is a boy thing. I had no idea boys and girls were so different!

I have a son that will be three in July and he did that exact same thing!! He would bang his head on the floor as hard as he could and would scream everywhere we went also. We talked to the Pediatrician about it because I was so worried he was going to do damage. She told us to just move him to a carpeted area or somewhere where it was padded and let him go because he was just throwing a tantrum and just ignore him. So we tried that and although he still did it for a little while he began to realize that it didn't get him anywhere and he has completely stopped! He is now a happy guy and although he still throws his tantrums it is not what it used to be! I know it is frustrating and I can't imagine trying to deal with that and another child, but he is just being a boy and you can't let it get to you. Just ignore him and he will realize that it doesn't work anymore. He is doing it to try to get your attention and if you don't give him that than he will eventually stop. Hope this advice works!

I have a son from a previous marriage and he did similar things. He banged his head on the floor, on the walls, and on the table during supper. I was so afraid someone would think I was beating him because he actually had brusing on his forehead. In his case, he was frustrated that we had moved to a new house and he wasn't able to voice his frustration to us. I would definately run this by a pediatrition for his/her opinion, but think hard to see if anything has possibly changed lately in your life that might be frustrating him, a new bedroom, a new family member, a new babysitter?? Anyway, my son turned out just fine. He soon "grew out of" the headbanging stage because it hurt and I refused to give it attention, and he is a healthy and wonderful boy now. Don't loose faith dear.