The Two T's

Teething and tantrums...those two words guided my week. Yes, our little boy has entered that phase. He's a little drool machine: he's wearing bibs again and still needs his shirt changed 4-5 times per day. I've heard mixed opinions on whether or not the teething is painful, but all I know is that little Max is very clingy and whingey these days. I think it's the teeth.

As for "tanties," he threw a really good one this week. He didn't like that I wouldn't allow him to push the keys on the telephone while I was talking on it. So he threw his little bottom onto the floor and leaned forward to place his head on the floor too. Then, after I hung up the phone and was attempting to comfort him, he spotted my mobile phone (another "no touch" item). Now he was very upset. A friend of mine told me part of a toddler's tantrum behavior has to do with their attempt to reconcile the fact that they desperately love their mommies but sometimes they hate them too. They don't know what to do with those conflicting emotions. Whether or not you believe that, it seems to support Max's behavior during his tantrum. He'd crawl into my arms for comfort but, once there, he'd through himself away from me (he wanted Mommy's comfort but then he'd realize that I was the one causing him anguish in the first place). I started to wonder how long this internal struggle could go on within Max...he must have eventually forgot WHY he was so mad. He just kept running with his anger. Anyway, after what seemed like ages but was probably less than twenty minutes, I put him into the pram for a bit of walking and shopping. That seemed to do it.

On a brighter note, Max learned to enjoy swimming underwater (the enjoyment came from not inhaling the water anymore). He kept trying to swim to me from the pool steps. He'd step off the ledge then kick his legs and generally wiggle around in the water until I retrieved him (which was probably no more than a second). It was really cute to see how much he enjoyed the water. He also decided that he wanted to jump to me from the edge of the pool. He only did that twice in a row today, but I think he liked the splash he made as he entered the water. And as I was helping him float in the pool today, I kept repeating "kick, kick, kick." Eventually, Max started saying it too (although his version sounded more like "ki, ki, ki").

We accompanied Esther and Janosch to the Brisbane Museum this week. It appeared to be an interesting museum, especially if you have a desire to see the creepy and scary things that live in this part of the world. I say "appeared" because I spent the whole time chasing a little boy who mostly wanted to ride the elevators and escalators, push buttons, walk through doors, and generally expend energy. We visited all three floors of the museum in 15-20 minutes just so Max could get his elevator fix. We spent most of the afternoon at the State Library in the Kid's Corner where there are computers, puzzles, books (of course), and other toys. Max spends at least 25 minutes of the time just pressing the keys on the computer's keyboard. It amazes me how much pleasure he gets from pushing buttons! No wonder he throws a tantie when I don't allow him to touch the phones.