Surviving TWO.

Holy cow! I thought my oldest gave me a tough time at the age of two. Either time has blurred the edges a bit, or my second child is WAY worse. I'm leaning a bit towards time blurring the edges. Regardless, today's emotion explotion was nothing short of amazing. This kid has some stamina and determination I tell you. LOL.

I don't even know what started it, but it escalated and lasted for about a half an hour!! Full on screaming and kicking for half an hour!! How did I survive this, you ask? Well, I'll tell you...

I'm reading "Awakened Heart Parenting" By Helen Hood. In her book she has a whole chapter devoted to 'tantrums.' I call them 'emotion explotions'. This term is not mine. I got it from Crystal at www.aolff.org . Anyway, Helen Hood explains how she deals with screaming children. She just sits calmly beside them and rides out the wave of anger. I love this visual by the way, it helps me to know that there will be an end. I just have to survive this one wave. Once she can get eye contact with them they start to calm down. She doesn't have to say or do anything at all. She is not ignoring them, she is just a calm presence for them. After a while they will quit and either want physical contact like holding a hand or a hug and then they are on their way.

Well, it reminded me to just be calm and stay there. So many times, we just want to run from it. Send them to their room, put them in time out, whatever you want to call it. How can a two year old know how to calm themselves, without us teaching them first? Our children will follow our examples, NOT our words. Because I just remained a calm, loving presence for my child, he was able to calm down. When he would ask something, I would respond to him with a loving voice. I did not laugh at him, or ignore him through all of this. I did get a little upset when he decided to throw himself at me and headbut me in the nose. Oh well, no harm done, I said ouch and he continued on with his screaming.

What did I learn from all of this? First of all, I learned that my two year old can NOT skip a nap at all. Period. LOL. Secondly, I learned that if I just stay there for him I am helping him. Thirdly, I learned that it does eventually come to an end.

So that was my day. Love to all. Peace out.