A few months ago I took Alex to a place called Kangaroo Zoo where there were about a dozen inflatable bounce houses and slides. Alex had a ball. Running around like a maniac, making sure to go on every single activity at least five times. He went through mazes, he slid down slides, he bounced until he couldn't bounce anymore. It was such a success, that when a friend of mine asked if we wanted to go with her and her boys this morning, I jumped at the chance.
Alex was excited to go. All morning, I'd ask him "Are you ready to bounce?" and he'd jump up and down saying "boing boing". I was excited. The last few days Alex has been such a cranky pants. Throwing tantrums at the drop of a hat and pulling his patented "boneless legs" trick when trying to take him home from the park. He's also getting very aggressive with other kids. Sure, he's aggressively HUGGING them, but still, unwanted hugs can cause problems. I figured a day at Kangaroo Zoo would give him an opportunity to run wild and scream and burn off some of that excess energy. He'd have so much fun, he wouldn't want to waste any time throwing a tantrum.
I was wrong.
It started out great, he ran for the first bounce house and "boing boing"ed happily with his buddies. Then he got out and made a bee line for the two and under section. That's where it all went to hell. Kangaroo Zoo has a sectioned off area for littler kids to play. Filled with toys and cars and big pillows and puzzles. This is great, because Alex can go in there and play with some toys when he gets sick of getting pushed around by the bigger kids in the bounce houses. The bad part is, when he wants to get out, he wants to take the toys with him. This isn't allowed. This rule pisses Alex off to no extent.
He'd leave the play area, toy cars in hand, running for the nearest inflatable slide. I'd go running after him, take the cars away and he'd scream at me, fall on his back and howl. I'd pick him up, tell him that I understand he wants the toy, and he can have it in the play area. He'd take the toy, I'd put him in the play area, he'd escape again, and throw the fit again. Play this scenario on a loop for two hours and toss in a liberal amount of kicking, screaming, crying and throwing of said cars, and you'd have a good picture of what our morning at Kangaroo Zoo was like.
We finally left at noon, both of us covered in tears and snot, Alex still screaming about the fact that he did not have the toys in his hands. I gave him a package of fruit snacks which he threw one by one in my general direction until they were gone, finally passing out about halfway home.
I'm beginning to realize that they weren't kidding about the "Terrible Twos". My son is a grumpy little troll most of the time, with the occasional up mood swing when the planets are aligned just so. Fun things are no longer fun. He reacts to previous favorite foods as if they were poison. I'm at a loss as to what to do. My Positive Parenting book tells me to acknowledge and validate his feelings, and give him extra hugs and most of all smile, speak lovingly to him and simply redirect his attention to something else. Redirection PISSES HIM OFF. Alex knows what he wants, and I'm no longer able to distract him with a shiny object or odd looking kitchen utensil. Not even a similar toy will do. He wants THAT car. THAT car with the STRIPES. The YELLOW stripes, not the BLACK stripes and Oh my GOD, how DARE you try to trick me with the car with the yellow stripes and the blue bumpers when I've clearly indicated that I wanted the car with the yellow stripes and the green bumpers, you horrible beast of a woman! Giving in to his demands only intensifies the tantrum because I WANT BOTH CARS! WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME? WWWWWAAAAAAAA!!!
I'm scared of Two. Somebody, please hold me.
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