Toddler Tantrums... Here They Come

Canon gets upset much more easily than he used to.  I think it's because he's getting to the stage where he wants to have control over his own life, and he knows what he wants... but I can't always let him get what he wants.  "Sorry, Canon!  I love you, but nope... you can't play with that knife!"  or "I know you want to go outside, but you're not wearing your coat and we're just not going outside right now."  or "Canon, would you please stay out of the dishwasher!"

I've learned that distraction doesn't always work, but if I let him choose I can often get him to do what I need him to do.  For instance, when I need to change his diaper and he just refuses, I give him a choice between two toys, and usually he'll just relax and fiddle with that toy until I finish.  Now when I give him the choice between doing what I want him to do himself or else I make him do it (like come down the stairs or get out of Daddy's office), he usually doesn't want to do it at all and I have to go grab him.  A short battle ensues, and then he calms down when he finds something to play with.  Canon has always been a really good kid, but I can see why some people can lose patience with their children.

He's getting a lot more difficult to handle during church too.  Those meetings are a really long time for a little kid to sit still and be reverent.  I can't even get him to be reverent for a whole prayer, let alone an entire meeting.  He's just at that age where he's so restless especially when he's tired (go figure!) and he just wants to get out of the pew and run up and down the aisles. (Not that I let him do that... but that's what he wants.) It's a good thing he's cute, and people are generally understanding and non-judgmental.  Pretty soon I'll be counting down the days until he can go into nursery.

Canon is starting to understand more and more of what we're saying.  I think he just chooses to not really listen to us.  One day about a week ago I was telling him that it was almost time to go pick up Daddy from work.  He looked at me and then over at the couch where all our coats were laying.  He walked over to the couch and grabbed his winter coat.  Wow!  Great job!  Yeah, we need to put on our coats so we can go outside to go get Daddy.  (Now, if only I could find a way to keep him from throwing a fit every time I strap him into his carseat.  Ok, so it's not every time, but most of the time he hates the carseat.)