Posts Tagged ‘toddler temper tantrums’
Toddler wrangling..
Posted on: January 18, 2014
Tantrums are NO joke!
I knew of the crying. I knew of the flailing. I knew of the screaming. I knew of the throwing herself on the floor.
I didn’t know of the physical damage it could do to me.
Ok. I’m exaggerating. But still.
I didn’t realize how hard it was to wrangle a tantruming toddler.
The following scenario is regarding bathtime. See this blog post for the reference.
First, there’s the chasing after a wiggling and rolling toddler all over the living room floor. Not only am I chasing after her, I’m bent over trying to pick her up at the same time. She’s wiggling and rolling in an irratic pattern. I don’t know where she’ll turn, but I’m bent over trying to pick her up while trying to figure out what direction she’s going to next.
Once I finally get her into a corner that she can no longer wiggle around, I sit down and try to pick her up into my lap. THAT is impossible. The minute I get my arms around her, she either goes limp into a dead weight, or she fights. She contorts her body in such ways to get out of my hold. No one told me what a toll that could have on my back!
The struggle can take about 5-15 minutes, but once I get a firm hold on her, there is the task of having to stand up from being on the ground. Any sudden change in my motion causes her to start fighting me again. Trying to get up with a twisting and turning 27lb toddler is painful. Painful.
Then bath time was painful because she fought it so hard that the angle I used to bathe her was not good on my back.
Lets not forget that once she is IN the bath, she actually LIKES the bath. So once the bath was over, she was NOT happy again.
The struggle to get her OUT of the bath begins again. This time, I have to scoop an angry, tantruming toddler out of a bathtub. Talk about back pain!
I finally take her out of the bath, I’m soaking wet and in pain and the only thing I can do is run us straight to the couch so I can sit down. Luckily, I am able to calm her down and the fighting finally stops.
She’s fine.
I’m in pain.
Oh my back! There has to be a better way!
I might be jinxing myself but…
Posted on: October 6, 2013
M has been A LOT better about her tantrums.
I don’t know if she’s learning how to control herself more, or she was feeling under the weather after we got back from Hawaii (she got sick from the germs on the plane), but she’s definitely not the crazy temper-tantrum terrible two year old I was describing in some posts from earlier in September. Refer to here, here, here, here, and here.
She’s learning to communicate.
When she doesn’t get her way, she begins to whine, but more often than not, I’m able to calm her down enough to explain to her what is going on. Then, I can usually distract her with something else, or find a compromise since she was so good about dealing with the situation.
Who knows. I could be totally jinxing myself and she’ll revert right back to the crazy tantrums tomorrow!
Life with a toddler is always unpredictable..
So for now, I’m enjoying this calm.
My credibility
Posted on: September 24, 2013
M is ruining my credibility.
These past few weeks, the blog has been about the various temper tantrums that we’ve been experiencing with our new little “terrible two.”
Those are true stories.
My parents surprised us with a visit this past weekend, and did M have a tantrum?
Absolutely not. Not one. Not even a small whine or whimper!
And of course, the minute they leave, it’s on the floor and crying because I didn’t crawl into the bathroom with her for her nightly bath. It’s on the floor and crying because I turned the lights off too soon for her liking. It’s on the floor and crying because she asked for milk and my walking into the kitchen to get it for her just took a little too long for her liking..
I guess it’s a good thing that she’s on her best behavior in front of other people. But after all the stories I’d been sharing with my mother, she kind of wanted to see some of it in action.
Maybe I should just have them over all the time. Maybe that cures “terrible twos.”
Has this ever happened to you?!
Use your words…
Posted on: September 19, 2013
I just hope I understand you…
By the time M was about a year and a half, she was talking fairly well. I mean, I understood her most of the time. She was able to identify objects, particularly objects she liked or needed..
Since then, I’ve encouraged her to “use her words.”
Now that she’s older, I try to emphasize using her words, especially since she’s well into her terrible two, temper tantrum phase.
She’s been ok with it… as long as I can understand her.
Case in point:
Last night’s bath. She wanted to go into the bath with her shirt on. As she was climbing in, I picked her up and took her shirt off. She wasn’t happy with that and just started crying. I had to reason with her that she couldn’t wear her clothes into the bath. Then, she turns to me and says something that started with an “a.” Through her tears, she was pleading with me with using this word I could not understand.
She was using her words, but I just didn’t understand them..
I ended up sticking her in the bath and she cried for awhile, most likely from the frustration of not being understood, then she was gleefully distracted by the running water and her toys.
I felt bad. All this time, I tell her to use her words, and when she actually does try to use them, I had no idea what she was saying.
Sigh.. Toddler problems..
Living life in the carpool lane.. 