Meltdown

Monday was a rough day for Ethan... he started off with a day at daycare that was apparently pretty chaotic and "exuberant," to say the least, thanks to the antics of four 2-year-old boys. The daycare provider said they always act up when it's windy or stormy, and the weather was pretty crazy that day. Unfortunately, this lead to a major meltdown that started the minute I picked him up and lasted until around 6:30. It was terrible! I'd never seen him throw a tantrum that lasted that long. Usually they're more like a minute or two, and then he either gets distracted or calms down, and it's over. This time it just kept coming in waves of tears, screaming, tossing his arms and legs around, and just generally being defiant, resistant, and refusing to cooperate at all. I kept wondering who had kidnapped and brainwashed my child, it was that out of character for him.

He finally started to calm down when I started washing the dishes, and he said "Help you?" while dragging his stool over to the sink. I slowly transitioned myself out of the space and left him in front of the kitchen sink to play in the water, pouring cups of soapy bubbles back and forth over a large bowl, and it seemed to work as a calming activity. After about fifteen minutes of self-play, he looked up and said "Pizza?"-- his new code word for "I'm hungry and want to eat." We ate some dinner together, took a nice bath, and he finally went to sleep. I felt like passing out too, it was such an exhausting evening with him! The next day, Tuesday, was the exact opposite. He was helpful, obedient, calm, brightly curious, laughing and engaged with me and other people around us (we went to the store), and just generally more like my son than the day before. It was so nice to get that time with him; it made up for our not-so-good Monday. I guess the "terrible twos" are here now, but I hope we can find some ways to mitigate the negative episodes so that we can all survive this sane, happy, and positive. God give me strength! ;)