Well that about says it all. Noah has fully and completely entered the temper tantrum phase. How long it will last, no one knows. Hopefully not until he's twenty-five. I'm not sure Eric and I will last another 24 years redirecting and trying to ignore this new phase. Noah has found his voice and knows how to use it (at his loudest volume) when he doesn't get his way. Within the last couple of weeks he's started stomping his feet and shaking his hands while he screams. Today was the first time he got so angry that he laid down on the floor and kicked while screaming to tell us how unhappy he was about not being allowed to pull pages out of a book. I think for Mother's Day this year, I am going to ask for a pair of ear plugs. Not just the little foam inserts, no I'm going to ask for the industrial strength plugs with ear covers as well. Maybe then I will be able to tune out the bad behavior. But for now we just tell Noah that he can be angry and behave badly, but he has to do it in another room. Then we take him to another room and tell him that he can come back when he's ready to be nice again. He doesn't understand any of what we're telling him, but some day he will (I hope).
What happened to my sweet innocent little baby? Well, I guess he grew up. He's a toddler now and he's learning. That's a good thing. But it's definitely also teaching his mother and father to have patience and how to keep cool under pressure.
