Grumpy in the morning, whining in the evening, tantrums at supper-time

"I not want you to take mine picture!"

Some days Peter wakes up grumpy. He'll open his bedroom door and peek out. If anyone comes over to say good morning, he yells, "NO!" and shuts the door. That's how we know it's going to be a hard morning.

He wasn't always this way. I think it really was when he turned two that it started happening. He used to be so good natured and happy all the time. Now it feels like half the day he's in a bad mood. The only way I've survived his "terrible two's" is just ignoring him or putting him in time-out. Sometimes I put myself in time-out so I can just get away from the screaming! Usually after we ignore his whining for long enough, then he'll be fine and forget all his troubles for a while. We try to tell him to ask nicely for what he wants, because he can't get what he wants by whining. So, he'll try to ask nicely while he's waving fists around and stomping. Sean will say, "Peter, you're still whining with your hands." 

Maybe in a few months, or years, he'll always ask nicely and talk kindly. And maybe we won't even remember he ever had this crazy emotional phase. I try to remember that he is just a little person who isn't rational yet and he doesn't really know how to handle how he feels sometimes.

Well, he might be crazy sometimes, but I still love him. It's definitely been a good lesson for me in patience!

Posted via email from catherine's posterous