4.21.2011

Hello, my name is Nasty-Butt. What's yours?

I'm noticing a theme around here. Home, daycare, books, blog world [Hey there Football Mommy! :) ]...Mom's of 12-18 month old munchkins (in particular) have a new skill they are adding to their resume. In the past two weeks I have officially entered a new phase of parenting. I'm lucky enough to be earning my Tantrum 101 Badge and I'm hoping to move to a happier course sooner than later. I sort of prefer the veins in my forehead to stay inside of my skull. Seriously what is the deal with these "flip a switch" mood swings that take a once was laughing, high-fiving munchkin to a gleam-in-the-eye, running-away, crying, overall nasty-butt munchkin?!


J is 16 months now (cue melting mom heart) and when out in public he's still pretty good at minding his manners. Let me rephrase that...I am still willing to venture out into public with him which means that yes, his manners are visible to the general public. However, there are some days that once my child walks through the front door everyone needs to hang on to their hats and glasses and prepare yourself for what appears to be the end of the world. The days that I just want to skip over are the days when EVERYTHING is a big deal to J. I kid you not, Savanna (our golden) sniffed J's hand the other day (apparently her nose was too cold?) to which he responded by running to the corner of the room, facing in to the corner and standing there for a good minute half-crying, half-moaning as if she had bit his finger off. Um. Okay. Really? (cue laughter). 


So if he's not running to the Munch Corner as I have so fondly named it since it's always that corner, he's banging his hand on something while looking right at you with a nasty gleam-in-his eye. This one is big during dinner or any other time when you tell him "No." He'll smack his high chair tray table, he'll smack the wall, door, whatever object is close by. WHAT THE HECK?! Nope, this is not going to fly.


I so desperately want to correct him in a way that connects the dots in his brain that behaving like that is no-bueno and find one consistent way that does that! For awhile we were able to intentionally ignore the one or two smacks to the tray table during dinner when he saw that he was being offered poison veggies to eat. I could see his little brain hashing out his new plan of attack since his nasty-butt display wasn't working but he always gave up and moved on. Now, well since the gleaming eye lingers longer, I am attempting the time-out method and/or the butt swat after intentional ignoring and several No's are laid on the table. Some days are better than others. The tough part of this Tantrum 101 Badge is knowing/assuming/guessing that my consistency is working. (cue pulsing forehead vein).


Sometimes I think he just wants to play the part his amazing hat implies...



1 comment:

  1. I won't tell you this could last for a while. Like a year or two. I have been saying that Jordis (2 1/2) acts like a pregnant hormonal woman. But when they are in a good mood (i.e. getting their way) they sure are cute and fun!

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