Otis woke up from his nap yesterday in a funk. Days like that, I know to leave the house as soon as possible to get his mind off whatever is making him crabby. Usually a walk or a trip to the store will be enough to turn his mood. Yesterday we decided to go to the Public Museum.
It did not go well.
As soon as we got there, Otis did not want to be in the stroller. Which is fine, run off some steam, go look and explore. Except he didn't want to walk, either. He'd go all jelly legs and throw his head back. So I set him down on the floor, where he commenced the temper tantrum. This happened at least four times. It seems the only thing he wanted to do was push the stroller, which is too high for him to reach the handle. Which does not matter to a one and a half year old, he wants what he wants and he wants it RIGHT NOW.
At one point, there was a group of school kids nearby. An 8 year old boy came up near where Otis was screaming. Otis looked up at him, stood up, and gave a mighty push right in the poor kid's stomach. My baby don't take no shit! The kid looked a little dumbfounded, like "did I just get beat up by a baby??" I think that was the point we decided to leave. We have a membership, we can always go back some other day...
I am a little worried, for real, about how to deal with Otis. He is very frustrated lately about not being able to communicate. We tried signing with him like we did with Ingrid, but he just never did it. So now we are faced with grunts and points and lots of mad tears. I feel for him, I do, it must suck to want something and have no way of getting your point across. But I can't take much more of this hitting, shoving, kicking, and tantrums, and I know it's only gonna get worse. Terrible Twos are real, ya'll. I've been there. I remember thinking Ingrid was being a brat and then she turned two and it was game on. I'm scared for my future.
Anyway, we did have a little fun while at the museum. Ingrid got a butterfly to land on her in the butterfly garden. She thought it was cool at first but quickly decided she wanted it off right now.
She also enjoyed the Streets of Old Milwaukee section, which has always been my favorite, too. I felt kind of bad, she was having a good time and then little bro acted up and we had to go. Boo.
Here's hoping today will be better.
5 comments:
does he know any signs? tru's tantrums certainly did not STOP after learning sign but it did empower him, he still uses them.
there were times i would just go to my car and cry with truman because i was so confused, he would go from his sweet self to raving tantrum very quickly and return to normal just as fast. hugs to both of you!!!
oh, and at 5 he's totally delightful. he's still EXTREMELY sensitive and he has his moments but has developed coping mechanisms for his frustration.
We tried, I don't know if he knows the signs or not. He refuses to use them, that I know...I keep working on it.
can i just say "otis is a bully" is cracking me up.
WHat about trying a picture book using your own photos and words to help him point to what he wants/needs/feels? Just while you are waiting for the specch to come along further? Its a tough time, i see it in heaps of boys and i'll be asking your advice when woody hits that age!;)
Do you think he might actually have a speech delay? That's what we finally found out with Johnny - and that social situations don't intuitively make sense to him. He's made incredible progress thanks to early intervention and then continuing on with our town's special ed program, but his speech especially still has a ways to go, and if I could do it over I would have gotten an EI evaluation earlier. I'm happy to answer questions, if you have any.
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