DS is 2.75 YO. We have had a wonderful toddlerhood. There has been very little that was terrible about the twos, and I have enjoyed him so much. Now, having said that....
Today we were at the Children's Museum. In the gift shop, I allowed him to explore within eyesight while I gathered some stocking stuffers. He had a ball. The last thing was the train table, which he loves. I sat down and played with him for a while. We talked about all the cars and what they did, etc. I gave him a warning. "You need to be thinking about leaving soon. We are going to have to go." Panic in his eyes. "Not quite yet, but you need to think about saying good bye to Thomas and his friends." The saying good bye trick has worked magically for him. We use it quite a bit.
So more playing, and I give him our standard, "Mommy is going to count to 20 and then we will need to say good bye." AAAAAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEE. Seriously, two people who worked there ran over to see if someone was injured. He has just started to do the screaming this week. I am not proud to say that my first reaction was scoop him up (I am 36 weeks pregnant-hilarious to watch, I am sure), to clamp my hand over his mouth and whisper in his ear, "Indoor voices. No screaming." I was chuckling a bit, because I was surprised 1) by the intensity of his reaction and 2) the sheer volume. We got calmed a little bit, did a little deep breathing. This only served to prepare his lungs for the next banshee-like episode moments later when we went to check out. Again, we did the deep breathing, and he calmed down. He did cry all the way out. I was holding him and talking quietly to him this whole time. At one point, I did have to put him down, but I got on the floor with him and continued to give him love and empathy.
I don't care that he expresses his anger, frustration, sadness. He can cry. If I were two and someone made me leave the train table, I would cry too. We have a book, If You Are Angry and You Know It, which gives him five or six things that I think are acceptable. The screaming just does not work for me. Stomp your foot, smack the floor (no drums were available), take a breath, walk away; good heavens, I am even OK with his roaring, which he did for a while. I would prefer to save screaming for something like injury and abduction, ya know?
Any ideas on how to help him use his other options?
Today we were at the Children's Museum. In the gift shop, I allowed him to explore within eyesight while I gathered some stocking stuffers. He had a ball. The last thing was the train table, which he loves. I sat down and played with him for a while. We talked about all the cars and what they did, etc. I gave him a warning. "You need to be thinking about leaving soon. We are going to have to go." Panic in his eyes. "Not quite yet, but you need to think about saying good bye to Thomas and his friends." The saying good bye trick has worked magically for him. We use it quite a bit.
So more playing, and I give him our standard, "Mommy is going to count to 20 and then we will need to say good bye." AAAAAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEE. Seriously, two people who worked there ran over to see if someone was injured. He has just started to do the screaming this week. I am not proud to say that my first reaction was scoop him up (I am 36 weeks pregnant-hilarious to watch, I am sure), to clamp my hand over his mouth and whisper in his ear, "Indoor voices. No screaming." I was chuckling a bit, because I was surprised 1) by the intensity of his reaction and 2) the sheer volume. We got calmed a little bit, did a little deep breathing. This only served to prepare his lungs for the next banshee-like episode moments later when we went to check out. Again, we did the deep breathing, and he calmed down. He did cry all the way out. I was holding him and talking quietly to him this whole time. At one point, I did have to put him down, but I got on the floor with him and continued to give him love and empathy.
I don't care that he expresses his anger, frustration, sadness. He can cry. If I were two and someone made me leave the train table, I would cry too. We have a book, If You Are Angry and You Know It, which gives him five or six things that I think are acceptable. The screaming just does not work for me. Stomp your foot, smack the floor (no drums were available), take a breath, walk away; good heavens, I am even OK with his roaring, which he did for a while. I would prefer to save screaming for something like injury and abduction, ya know?
Any ideas on how to help him use his other options?
