Thursday, May 1, 2014

The Tantrum Loop

Sunday morning Owen got stuck in a terrible-twos tantrum loop.  He took my hand and wanted to bring me someplace, but when I stood up to go, he got mad at me for following him.  Then when I stopped he got mad and came over and asked me to lift him up, but then when I stooped to do so, his body went all boneless and he sunk to the ground to prevent the lifting.  And then when I didn’t lift him, he got mad and stood up to take my hand to bring me someplace.  Etc., etc.  During this time he had tears spurting out of his eyes and racing down his cheeks, he kept saying his angry, oooo, ooooo, and every few seconds he would try to bite me on the leg.  Fun times.

Owen thinking, well she wouldn't do what I wanted.

Of course, it was hard for me not to laugh when this was happening, because the whole nonsensicalness of a terrible two tantrum is ridiculous.  Plus he was obviously so mad!  And he didn’t know why or about what, yet kept the rage going.

Peekabooing in happier times.

I kept trying to distract him out of the loop, but it didn’t work, so finally I went on a Trader Joe’s run and Sean took Owen up to the attic to play guitar.  When I came home, I met the two of them leaving the house for a walk to the nearby campus, so I joined them and found this spring lovely in the forest.


Those are pansies, right?  Which reminds me of a pansy story…years ago when I was young and lithe and living in Boston, a friend of mine stated that he didn’t like pansies because they were such an “old lady” flower (why that should be a negative thing is not as clear to me now as it was when I was 22).  I protested, but then a few days later I was walking behind two such old ladies, when one said to the other, “I just love pansies!”  And the other replied, “Me too, I just love their little faces!”  Humpf.

3 comments:

Juliana said...

If you enjoy pansies, you can plant johnny-jump-ups in your flower beds or even your yard, and they will self-sow and return every year. I loved johnny-jump-ups even before I became 'old'--they are so cheerful, so colorful, so dependable as a little harbinger of spring.
I so enjoyed today's post. I guess every mother can relate to a story of the tantrum loop.
How is Posie? She was missing from your earlier post this week that spotlighted pets.

Elizabeth said...

Hi Juliana. I like the johnny-jump-ups idea; they do seem cheery! Plus I like that they self sow. The previous owner of our house was a gardener who wasn't able to keep up with the garden towards the end, so our front yard is part treasure trove, part big mess. Neither of us have gardening experience (although Sean is better than I am at just making it up as he goes along), but we are trying to organize the front a bit and move things around and hope they live...

Posy is quite good, thanks for asking! I think there is a Posy post coming up; I just need to add pictures. I like to whisper to her that she is my favorite living pet, and she seems to take it as her due. She's really a sweet thing, if a bit too noisy on occasion.

I hope Wilhemina is behaving herself? And not tormenting Solstice.....

--Elizabeth

Juliana said...

I loved the cat post!! Lovely pictures of both, but I do enjoy pictures of Posy especially.
I don't think you can make mistakes in gardening that cannot be corrected if they are bad enough. I think a plant will always let you know if it is not planted in the right spot, thank goodness.
Wilhemina is so happy here that she has lost the Bad Girl crown. She and Solstice are actually playing together (sort of)!