Toddlerhood

Oh, man. It's hitting us hard. Will is so much more fun than he used to be, and I love how much he talks and gives hugs and kisses and plays with books and wants us to read to him, but the pleasantry lasts only as far as he wants it to. If you say no to him for any reason, or try to get him to do something that he doesn't want (for example, wear pants in the late afternoon), he hurls himself to the floor, screaming and crying, in genuine temper-tantrum form. At first I found it unbearable because he appeared to be in such agony and I felt so mean. But now I'm getting more used to it and realize that it's something that he just has to get over. He can't always get what he wants, and for the time being he lacks the words, patience, and reason to explain his frustration. But he's gone on like this for forty-five minutes at a time, and that is tough to take. I think he has noticed our reaction to his outcries, so now he'll just start to scream at the slightest hint of something he doesn't like, and that I have little patience for. We're slowly finding ways to distract him and comfort him, but for the most part we just let him carry on and I think that's the most effective thing. He seems to give up a little bit more quickly than he used to, and then he's back to being a nice little boy.