All my kids are little mess machines, but my son combines this tendency with a strong urge to use his arm muscles and a deep need to create noise. A few months back he went through a phase of banging any object that was handy against the nearest hard surface he could find. Metal spoon against ceramic plate? Cool! Baseball bat against patio doors? Awesome! Ice cream scoop against sister’s head? Oops, mommy’s really mad now…
Thankfully, this phase passed after a few months, which is a good thing because I was getting pretty tired of sitting in the corner with him.
Bam bam returned this week, however, and he certainly picked his moment. In the midst of a communication breakdown between me and my two-year old over his milk and his sippy cup, my son started shouting, “Daddy!, daddy!”
Generally, this translates as: “Would the alternate adult who occasionally understands what I want and gives me chocolate when he can’t figure it out please show up!”
Eureka! Somehow I connected that call for daddy to the idea of using daddy’s “grown-up” cup. So, I offered to let him drink his milk out of a wine glass.* Happy does not begin to describe the look on his face as he got this unbelievable offer. The meltdown immediately turned to happy giggles, I got to be the hero, and we proceeded with lunch.
Long story short, dad comes home, baby delightedly shows off his new triumph by drinking a wine glass full of milk for the whole family, and right then and there smashes it to the table in his bare hand. Nice going mom! I guess I won’t be the one posting any ideas to the mommy blogs about creative ways to handle toddler meltdowns.
How about you? Anyone else want to fess up to a self-inflicted baby disaster?
*(If this sounds far-fetched, I recommend reading If You Give a Mouse A Cookie)
Bam bam is strong boy!
