Oh that legendary temper. The one that posseses two year old children and has them grab and hurl the closest thing to them, or shove at whatever's nearby, or hit anything at all and for what? The little M has taken to tantrums lately. His favorite tone of voice is whine. And he has this insatiable desire to be with me or with J. To have our presence. Which is, indeed, endearing. And you must be thinking, "This woman is NOT complaining her SON wants to be with her, is she?" Well yes, in a way, I am. These little monsters require so much effort. Which is different, I think, than infants. Infants require attention. I can clearly think back to the early months of my life with M and I know for a fact that there was no strength or energy for effort. Attention was automatic in a way. It was a haze of just act and react. But with these little creatures you have to THINK. "How do I distract him so I can take that bat away?" "What can I play with him so that I don't throw him out the window?" "How do I get him off of me without crying?" "How do I prevent him coming to me and pulling at me and crying for me?" It feels, some times, as if the biggest use of my brain is thinking of ways to occupy M's interest that will not lead to the destruction or dirtying or ruining of something- well something somewhat important at least. Because the other day I found that the best possible activity I could let him do was to let him tear up his very own coloring book. His coloring book!

I clearly remember when those were like holy books. And yet my son sat there stabbing and ripping his with a really cute mechanical pencil he found in my desk.

You know, let's address that whole thing a second. Why don't they warn you that they'll be able to reach 90% of the surfaces in your home UBER fast? That should be a warning label stuck to their butts. I don't know HOW many times I find my jaw hanging open as I watch him reach for, and grab, something on a desk or table or COUNTER or whatever! And this is a child who does not necessarily use surfaces to lift himself. I'm talking about mere tippy toe action. I mean, I expected the coffee table. That was a no-brainer. And since the night table is right next to the bed ok that one too. And the entertainment center since it's one of the ones that sits low to the ground is pretty baby-proof. But my goodness!! I clearly remember being younger and unable to reach things. I remember pulling things over and climbing them to reach things. And here's my little son, on the tippiest tips of his toes snatching anything at all and everything he can. ESPECIALLY when that temper flares. He doesn't think he just shoves his hands out and sees what happens- if they happen on something small enough and/or light enough it's airborn. If it's heavy or big it gets shoved and smacked. Today I got nailed with a wooden puzzle piece and a board book (Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton if you were wondering). Both were shots to the mouth/chin area and happened in less than twenty minutes from each other. And in this case, there was no tantrum.

It's hard for me to understand the frustration and yet not really. I know that a lot of times the frustration is an inability to communicate what they want. This is simply NOT the case. M's vocab is disgustingly voluminous. He says things like "hippopotamus" and "interesting" as if he was babbling "mama" or "dog". M speaks in paragraphs people. Short tiny paragraphs but he's definitely linking sentences together. Communication is not an issue. We know exactly what it is he wants, or doesn't want. The problem is that we just disagree on whether or not he should get his way and that is very upsetting to him. So upsetting that things will fly- things like puzzle pieces and board books.