Wow. Eli has been seriously spastic all afternoon. He slept for less than an hour for his nap (he's normally a 2-3 hour kid) and he's had these CRAZY episodes all day that I guess are tantrums but I'm not sure because they are so much more all-consuming of him than anything I've ever seen and they seem to come from nothing (I am not saying 'no' or taking anything away from him at the time). Since this has been happening more and more recently, I figured it was time to break my silence and come forward asking (BEGGING) for help.
Of course when this happens my guilt gets to me...what if he's already getting jealous of the baby (highly unlikely, but who knows), what if he's teething (I usually give him some Tylenol if I'm confident this is the cause), OR what if he's being a brat and I need to nip it!?!?!? So today I put him in a little time out (basically ignore him) for a few minutes at a time which did nothing to calm him...once I resumed activity with him he would scream for another 4-5 minutes, then he would have 2-3 minutes of normal/happiness before going into a full force scream fest again. Holding him didn't help, putting him down didn't help, trying to feed or water him didn't help....I was SOO frustrated!
My point in all of this is sometimes I think he gets bored. I'm at a loss because I try to sit and read with him, or play blocks or other toys with him, but he will do that for seriously less than two minutes at a time. So how do I interact/entertain him? He's 18 months and I'm hoping this is a little bit of a phase because until about two weeks ago he was going strong at about a month of really good independent play. What am I doing wrong?!?!? (Or not doing?)
4 comments:
Nicole,
We were on the WebMD pregnancy/newborn boards at the same time and now I just read your blog. :) I wanted to let you know that we're going through the SAME exact thing with our son. There are many days when I feel like he's completely bored with me and nothing I do will make him happy. I don't have much advice, but wanted to let you know that we're dealing with the same issue. I am hoping that it's a phase. It's like he doesn't necessarily want me to play with him...he just wants me to play next to him (so I can't go accomplish other things around the house...I just have to be paying attention to whatever he's doing). Fun times!
Hey there,
Good news -- it's just a phase.
Bad news -- Eli's growing up. :-(
Almost all toddlers go through this at about this age, and the best advice I can give you is that he is going to need more than he did even a month ago. More stimulation, more almost preschooler activities, and more life to live. Unfortunately, with the lack of communcation, he's going to throw more tantrums, and be more frustrated. Teething and small naps won't help his already short fuse.
I'd suggest starting on some new activities, and seeing how he does. Some that we like best are soccer balls and goals, basketballs and nets, sidewalk chalk, sand boxes and sand toys. For inside, try play doh and cookie cutters, froot loops and yarn necklaces, and whipped cream artwork on the oven.
Try stretching the limit of what you think he can do. Eli will probably surprise you with not only what he can do or learn, but how quickly he does it.
Good luck!!
Hmm...I wish I had advice but we deal with the same thing over here. For us it's worse when we are trapped inside all day due to weather, colds, whatever. I think we both just get antsy and need to get out. So we've been taking walks around even just our building sometimes in order to get out of the apartment - anything to get a change of scenery. I can say you are doing NOTHING wrong. I think they're just going to go through this and we'll cope.
My advice? Lost of deep, relaxing breaths. :) You are not doing anything wong. Welcome to the terrible twos. When you think about it, we all have those days. As adults we can't throw ourselves to the ground and scream and thrash. Though wouldn't it feel good if we could?
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