Tantrums and tribulations

posted by Jeff | Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 3:45 PM | comments: 0

We've definitely entered a very challenging stage of parenthood. Simon is very much a 2-year-old, and the whole "terrible twos" thing is becoming pretty obvious to us now. The other day, Diana's aunt observed that Simon attempts to test us in almost every little thing he does. She didn't witness any true tantrums though, and that's where it's getting difficult.

When the Spawn of Puzzoni doesn't get his way, or fails at some task after just one attempt, we are witness to the most epic of meltdowns. There's kicking and screaming. At this point, it's not even the difficulty of communication with him. He's got the basics covered, and he understands us. He just started skipping several steps and began to flip out when he doesn't get his way. The thing that I hate most about this is that I don't know if I could identify if he was actually seriously hurt, because the tantrums sound the same.

Generally speaking, only one of us gets completely frustrated at a time. Usually if one of us can't deal with him, the other steps in. I think Diana scores bonus points in that respect, because Simon spends half of his waking hours alone with her. As much as I've said I'd enjoy the stay-at-home dad role, I'm not sure if I could do it. She works very hard to expand the work his occupational and speech therapists begin, and most of the time is able to ignore the tantrums and do the right things.

He's not all terror all of the time. He still has his charming toddler moments, when he says new words, giggles endlessly in tickle fights and walks around looking cool in his sunnies and hats. It's just that we have to really try hard to keep in mind that he isn't always a pile of tears and unhappy stomp-dance.


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