Terrible Two Tantrums

The twins have officially hit their Terrible Twos. Evan worse than Jordan. Packrat thinks that Jordan's Terrible Twos were when she was an infant. When she was unreasonable, could cry for hours when she didn't get what she wanted and displayed great anger at everything that did not go her baby way. She still throws tantrums, she still gets angry, she smacks and kicks occasionally, but generally, she has developed a girl like quality about them. Her rages get distracted when she realises that you are angry with her then she cries and is upset because someone is mad with her.

At that point, it becomes easy. Put her into a corner, let her calm down and she'll come to you and want to be consoled. To be assured that you're not mad. I usually use that opportunity to explain to her why I was annoyed with her and reassure her that while I was angry at what she did and I was not angry with her as a person and still loved her. Often for good measure, I will make her apologise to whoever she was chucking a fit at and she would tearfully go "Solly" and angle for a hug.

Evan, on the other hand requires a different tact. He is quintesentially two years old. He will jump up and down in rage when he does not get what he wants. Flings away all attempts at trying to distract him and cry till he hyperventilates. He doesn't listen to reason, he is often fixated on what he cannot have. It often takes a long while to calm him down. And he fights it. Physically with all his strength. And for a two-year-old, he has plenty of strength. Kicking, flailing, making him impossible to carry or hold down.

I console myself with the thought that it is just a phase and he is a generally sweet and even-tempered child. Of course, that is until he doesn't get his way. And the difference is he has enough vocabulary to tell you exactly what he wants and it escalates in octaves when he realises he's not about to get it. This was what happened in Phuket.

Because the twins had been in and out of the pool so much, they developed quite a bad case of the sniffles, which meant, they were banned from the pool and were only allowed to be at the playground. Evan however, spotted a wading pool and before we could stop him had headed straight into pool filled with 13 cm of water. On hindsight, we should have taken him out immediately, but we thought that since it was so hot and he was unlikely to get his entire body wet in 13 cm of water, we'd let him splash around a bit.

The problem was when his time was up. We usually do this thing where we do a count down with them. So that they know their time is running out. Of course, water trumps any type of reasoning or mental preparation. The result was much splashing, this marvellous ability children have to squash their arms tightly together and squatting so they are impossible to lift (there is also another ability they have of plastering themselves to the ground but that hasn't happened yet *fingers crossed*) causing him to fill his diaper to the max with water, screeching, clawing and great big fat tears.



















Joy in the water.


The resultant tantrum and tears that followed after being unceremoniously dragged out of the water. Loud, angry, pathetic and snotty all at the same time.























He eventually calmed down when we got back to the hotel block and allowed him to ride the lift up and down a few times. Then, he started chuckling but hiccoughing at the same time with the remains of the tantrum still evident with the red swollen eyes and the tear streaked face.

I'm just hoping it remains like this, dealing with one tantrumist at a time. Because if the two decided to revolt at the same time, that might be when I might consider running away and hiding under a rock till they turn 25. And even then, I can't be guaranteed that the tantrums have resolved themselves.


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