Caleb used to be my angelic, sweet boy. He never had temper tantrums unless he was really tired and had a long day. (Those don't really count though.) Even then, he would go to bed when it was time and not pull any shenanigans to stay up later. Ever since about a week or two before Sonya was born, he has had a few tantrums a day and has been talking back a lot more. It drives me nuts sometimes.
Simple things like: "Caleb, can you please get dressed?" are answered with, "I don't know how".. or "I don't have any hands." Both responses are absolutely ridiculous because he has surprised me before by coming out of his room dressed all by himself without any help. Granted, he has put some of his shirts and pants on backwards, but still knows how to get them on.
Yesterday, I made him tomato soup for lunch because that's what he wanted. I had a plate with cheese and carrots to eat along with it. There were a few more carrots than I expected him to eat, so I took a few and started munching on them. He broke down completely because I took "his" carrots. Oh my goodness! I told him I'd get him more carrots once he ate the rest of his lunch, but he just kept bawling and said , "You're not respecting me, mom." (I had given him a little speech earlier in the day about respecting mommy. I guess it kind of sunk in a little.) By this time, I was steaming because of all the other little snide remarks he was making. Sure, he's only 3 ad a half, but that was no excuse to be talking back to me. I decided it was better to just ignore him for the moment. Then he went over by the living room and was staring out the window for a few minutes. All of a sudden, he came bouncing back to the table, a happy little Caleb, announcing, "I'm gonna be good now. It's ok that you took my carrots." My heart just melted. Why does he have to throw in those cute moments when my head is just about to explode from anger?
In the afternoon, he broke down again when I took him outside to play after Tim got home. I thought I'd be nice and spend some quality Caleb and mommy time with him so we decided to race down the sidewalk by our apartment building. All of a sudden, I ran a little bit ahead to hide like he and Tim do when we take family walks. He could still see me, but was obviously upset that I went "so far" ahead. I don't know why it was such a big deal for me to hide when Caleb LOVES playing that game with daddy. *sigh*
Then, last night, when Tim was starting to make supper, Caleb had another meltdown. We had some potato soup left from the other day, but Caleb wasn't crazy about it. He wanted more tomato soup like he had eaten at lunch. I had eaten the rest though and we didn't have any more cans of it in the house. Tim told him it was all gone, but Caleb didn't want to believe him and said it wasn't. He insisted on searching the refrigerator. Finally, arguing with Tim for 5-10 minutes, he realized there wasn't any more soup and he'd have to eat something else.
I'm hoping this phase will pass soon. My guess is that the tantrums are a combination of trying to get attention /jealousy of Sonya /being tired because he doesn't seem to want to take naps anymore even though he still needs them (he took one the day before../ and just his age has something to do with it. Welcome to the life of a parent with TWO children. :)
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