it was a loong, hot, muggy, tiring night lastnight. for all of us.
after ahonui grew out of his colicky stage at 4 months i didn't expect another night like that until baby number 2 came along. granted, we've had our fair share of middle-of-the-night "mommy/daddy, hold me" episodes. but this particular incident began from 8:15pm....i know!
brandon was still at work, so i was left all alone with my little one who fell asleep on our way home from kahuku. he awoke an hour later crying and in the worst of moods (which he often does if he's not fully rested). i went into the bedroom to pick him up and cradle all 34 lbs. of him. but he wasn't havin' any of that.
hungry, son? screams.
want me to hold you? throws himself on floor.
sippy? nemo? au-au? daddy? cries hysterically with no audible dialogue.
okay, go night-night then. kicks AND screams.
oh well, i tried, right? after a few disciplinary reprimands, i let him wallow in his unyielding grief (aka: time out) for a few minutes before going back in to check on him. he looked at me with those bright, red eyes and tear-stained face that would break any mother's heart. so i go over to pick him up again -- only to experience the same tantrum with ear-piercing screams from my little boy's mouth.
hmmm...i anticipated that this glorious time of my son's first adolescence would come. however, i expected it to arrive a lot earlier than this. after all, he is now about two and a half years old.
then again, i always seem to question the centuries old studies of child rearing whenever it comes to my only child. is this normal? is he SUPPOSED to be acting like this? where do i draw the line to distinguish NORMAL wildly active toddler behavior from a just plain disobedient, undisciplined boy? i have a hunch that i'll be questioning things like this for quite a while...at least until i'm a well-seasoned mother of four. yikes!
to put your minds at ease, after we picked up brandon from work, the little guy settled down - a bit. my genius of a husband suggested that we take advantage of the beautiful hawaiian night and go for a walk around laie with our previously mentioned jogging stroller. once we got out into the cool evening air, it seemed as though all of our spirits were refreshed. when we returned home, we laid next to ahonui on the bed, and promptly fell asleep.
although ahonui woke up throughout the night in irritable moods, i tried to remember that this is just a chapter in all of our lives. tantrums are thrown, tempers will rise, boys will be boys, and lines will continue to be blurred. and although i understand that this phase won't last forever, any advice & tips from you "well-seasoned" (or even not-so-seasoned) people out there will definitely be appreciated!
3 comments:
ooh, harm! i know this episode too well and i still don't have any answer for you! it really does seem (to me anyway) that these "out of control" tantrums happen in the 2 year old stage...karly did these once in a while and then she just stopped as she got older...and now kaelyn has them once in a while. i remember my nephew had it too. almost like they had a nightmare and then there's nothing to console them initially. but you have a great attitude...it's only for a time and season.
Advice?- can't help you there, however you have my support cuz I'm right there with you. My son is the same way with his sleep, he has too have his nap and wake up on his own or watch out world- here comes Mr. Grouchy!
Simon has had one or two of these episodes as well. After I've tried everything I can think of, I tell myself that he is probably just having one of those days. I know have those days, too, but I can handle them a little bit better than he can. A very little bit. I know sometimes I want to go all crazy like he does, but I would probably get taken in for a psyche evaluation and that would not be a good thing.
ps This is Lizzie, signed into my ward's primary account. Oops. :)
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