Tantrums

After being told that it's time for bed, our little angel demonstrates his displeasure by emptying the contents of his bureau on the floor.

The terrible twos caught us completely off guard, as the whisperings of friends and the random lady in the pharmacy checkout line had oft foretold. Alden has, until recently, been the kind of kid you can reason with. He's pretty sharp and able to cool his jets most of the time as long as you explain to him, with impeccable logic, why eating a box of cereal bars will wreak havoc on his bowels or why if Mommy hears that song one more time her ears will start to bleed. But lately this civil discourse has failed to placate the rank and file, who've discovered that they have more power at the bargaining table than previously realized and are making the most of this leverage. This is especially true in public, when the management is more sensitive to loud demonstrations and will make greater concessions than at home. A quick trip to the Post Office a few weeks ago quickly descended into massive wailing and flailing when Alden was cruelly forced to wait in line instead of climbing the "authorized personnel only" staircase. To my great shame, his tantrum led to an exodus of several Post Office patrons and one of the postal clerks, who muttered something about paperwork that needed immediate attention and abandoned his cash register, causing an even slower queue and a whole lot of angry eye rolling. The only way I managed to get through that situation was by letting him have his way with a box of cookies. Now that he's discovered the power of the tantrum, he's doing it more and more. He demands sweets at nearly all meals and is refusing healthy food that he used to eat with great gusto, like sweet potatoes and squash.He also really likes the elevator at Reny's ("push button!") which makes the actual shopping experience at Reny's extremely unpleasant. We rode the elevator about 20 times yesterday before I called it quits and tried to purchase a few items.
"Push button? PUSH BUTTON??? PUSH BUTTON!!!! WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!".
You get the idea....

I sincerely hope this is just a phase, as I can't seem to reason with him anymore, nor can I distract him with something else to divert the tantrum. The only way I can keep the peace is with food, which really doesn't bode well.

Ben had commented that he wanted to see his thermal image, which reminded me that we never posted this one of Alden. I didn't realize his hands are so cold all the time. We desperately need this energy retrofit!