The Maddest "Mad" Ever

Whoa! This morning Easton threw his biggest fit yet which we often call "having a mad". I was so glad Jason was home with us today as it looked like it was going to be a very rough, very long day. Anyway, after Easton woke up I brought him into our room to play like we usually do when we're all home. Before long he got SO mad at us so we put him down on the floor to have his tantrum. It lasted SO long. We're not sure exactly what to do about tantrums yet but at first we opted for "ignore". But, how long are we supposed to ignore it for? He kept going and going. Then, when we felt bad since he's still so young we tried to distract him and offered to pick him back up on the bed. He wanted nothing to do with either of us at that point. My goodness! Eventually I got down on the floor with him to try to distract him with playing and ended up just cuddling him as we walked around the room and looked out the window to calm down. It was crazy. We were wondering what happened to our regular child. Maybe when he bonked his head yesterday something came loose? More on this later.

Anyway, back to handling the tantrums. I got a book from the library and after thumbing through it we decided we like it's theory and we're going to Netflix the video of it. Then, if we need to later we'll get the book again. The theory is to basically think of your toddler as a caveman and communicate with them at their level rather than trying to talk to them like an older person, "No you can't have a cookie now...you don't want to ruin your dinner." Basically with this book's theory you'd say, "No No! Easton wants cookie NOW! blah blah blah" we're not sure what happens after that so that's why we need the movie, I think it has something to do with whispering. I don't know. *sigh* Until we get it I think we're gonna stick with our "ignore" mode. It's not working but it's the best we've got for now. I know the key is to be consistent but we have no real method yet. Once we learn that we'll be consistent. Well, we'll try. :)

Okay, so back to this head bonk...you see, yesterday E learned how to climb up onto his toy box. Lots of fun. He was SOOOO proud of himself. Click here for some video. At first he did okay without falling off and he seemed aware of the boundaries of the box and could climb down okay. Well, later on he got a little too sure of himself and one time he fell off the front, not too big of a deal, he got right back up. Then he started his stompy dance and one foot fell between the box and the wall and he went down, smacking his face on the lid on his way down. :( He didn't cry too long but his little cheek was warm and red all evening like he'd been slapped 'cross the face. Needless to say he didn't try climbing back up there again yesterday OR today. He did try the coffee table once but we're not allowing that since it's made of glass. On that note, after his recent (possible) electric shock he also doesn't play with the cords anymore. For now. Maybe he did learn.

Despite the rough start to the morning and our anticpation of a trying day ahead he was actually very good and we had a lot of fun today. He tried hummus today! Then, after his long nap we went on a walk and to a park to play. He went to town eating strawberries when we came back. Yay E! We love Daddy's days off!