Shortly after I went for my free ultrasound at 34 weeks pregnant, I was ready to shop. You see, for my one insurance paid ultrasound, they were only 80% certain she was a girl. Being the accountant that I am, I quickly did the math and there was a 20% chance, one in five chance, and just my luck chance that they were wrong. So before I went bananas and got pink everything, I wanted to be certain, dang it. I went to a local college where they did free ultrasounds as part of their teaching curriculum. They confirmed…the hamburger bun was present!
Off we went to order furniture! It was a weeknight, and we piled into the car with our 16 month old little terror. We went to a store that specialized in nursery furniture. Walked around once, and decided that it was way too expensive. Walked around again, and couldn’t live without two of the sets. Walked around again, and the credit card started screaming…shortly afterwards, so did Kailan.
He had enough.
Daddy wouldn’t let him run around with a pen in his hand, and how dare he take it away! At that point, he threw himself on the ground and slammed his head into the concrete floor to SHOW US just how mean we were. The result was blood oozing from a cut in his mouth. The screaming started in earnest, and it was time for us to leave before CPS was called.
He often did that. Got mad because we didn’t do as he asked 0.0005 seconds after he asked us. Not that we could understand what he was saying anyways. He really didn’t start speaking well until he was around 2.5 years old, and only in the past 6 months has it gotten to the point where we can understand most of what he says.
This lack of communication was one of the triggers for his tantrums. Boy, did this kid know how to throw tantrums! A sure fire way to trigger a tantrum was if we,
- Did not allow him to pick out his clothes or shoes, or
- Breathed in his general vacinity.
Another big thing was everytime he woke up, he woke up screaming mad. I don’t think it was night terrors, since he wasnt afraid…it was that he was just pissed that he woke up. Tons of fun, let me tell you. Tons.
I think this was probably the reason I have never had a problem with using cry it out as a form of sleep training for either of our kids. I am numb to the whole crying thing after Kai was such a colicky infant and then with the tantrums that started at about 14 months old until…well, yesterday (or was it this morning?). It doesnt’ really phase me to hear crying…unless it is right next to my ear threatening to give me hearing loss. Then I just move them to another room and leave the area. Tantrums are much less fun when you don’t have an observer for them.
It has gotten much better in the last 6 months. The tantrums are fewer and not as violent. (I mean, HELLO, thrashing your body and little head on the tile floor will hurt! You would think after the 50th time he did it, he would learn!)
Although Anya has been throwing the tantrums in the last few months, they really are nothing compared to the little man. He made them into an artform.
So, just know if you have a toddler know that (#1) it could be worse and (#2) they grow out of them. 😉
Hmmm, see, crying drives me insane. Absolutely insane. Not because I’m worried the kid is suffering, but because I just can’t stand the noise. We never did Cry It Out for that reason–I couldn’t take it.
However, my kids weren’t screamers/tantrumers like that. They tortured me in other ways, like not sleeping through the night, um, ever. Well, Drew was 2, and Nick still doesn’t reliably sleep all night and he’s 4. I probably haven’t had a week total of all night sleep in the past years. It is getting better, though. Slowly but surely.
Believe me, I hate yelling and noise, too. We don’t yell in our house, but with a toddler that you can’t control you get used to it. Even when Kai was a baby and he was colicky and there was no comforting him…that was hard.
As for the sleeping, Kai is not a good sleeper either. I’m happy if we have two days in a row of him sleeping all night long.