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A Tantrum in Time
by Anthony Romanelli
6:01pm "Maggie, daddy needs to change your diaper."
"No."
"Maggie, do you want the Tigger diaper or the Mickey Mouse
diaper?"
"No. I want Mommy to
change my diaper!"
Oh, it is SO on...
6:02
"Maggie, Mommy is busy with Jordan, which diaper would you
like?"
"NO DADDY."
"Maggie, that's one."
"No, Daddy."
"Maggie that's two."
Maggie falls to the floor, invokes her own personal devil,
tantrums herself for minutes, flails her toddler arms and screams so loud that
anger takes over every serene ounce of my inner calm.
"Maggie, that's three.
To the stairs, please."
6:05
"NOOOOO!" All the while she flails like the devil wrapped in
a dead fish.
Walking toward Maggie to pick her up, her volume
erupts. "NO, DADDY, NO, NO, NO!"
I step back. "To the
stairs on your own or Daddy will come pick you up." Flailing fish calms it down to tiny tantrums and forced breaths. "Bu, bu, but, I WANT MY MOMMY!"
Breathe, Anthony, Breathe.
"I wonder if KG and the Celts beat LeBron last night?" I ask myself.
6:07
I take three steps toward Mount St. Maggie and she erupts
again. "DADDY, GO TO THE OTHER
ROOM."
"I can't sweetheart, Mommy is in there changing Jordan's
diaper." Uh oh, too honest. "I want Mommy to CHANGE MIIIIIIIIINE!"
6:08
"Maggie, that's one."
Maggie, still lying on the floor, pancakes herself so her bottom is now
upwards, facing me. Great tantrum, now a
great view. Great.
6:10
"Maggie, that's two" I've been told this One-Two-Three
system of sorts is supposed to work...scare my kid into being better. I'm not wholly sure that's the case.
6:11
"Maggie, that's three.
To the stairs, please."
"But DAAAAAAADDDDY."
"Go, please."
6:12
"I," sniff, sniffle, cough, sniffle, "I, I, I'm bettahhh."
The word "Better" cannot possibly be formed in between snots and sniffles.
6:13
"Please go to the family room so I can change your diaper."
I say.
"F, f, fi, fine," she forces out.
6:15
And it all leads to a fruition and outright honesty most
parents never prepare themselves for..."Daddy, may I see my poop?"
Lucky Me
I've been so blessed that my kids (so far) haven't gotten into the temper tantrum scene. Occasionally my son will be a little rambunctious and not listen but hasn't done the kicking and screaming thing yet. Still crossing my fingers for luck!
www.tylermitchell.com
www.twitter.com/tylermitchell
You have to live like no one else.
Definitely sounds like
Definitely sounds like potty-training time if the kid has a vocabulary that sophisticated!
Thanks for participating in this week's Carnival of Family Life hosted at Live from Waterloo on Monday, June 2, 2008! Be sure to check out the other excellent entries this week!
Oh my, just too familiar. We
Oh my, just too familiar.
We started to say: "Sorry, you can only look at your poop, if it's in the toilet..."
A Tantrum in Time
What a great look back, emphasis on back! This piece has captured the essence of an "oh,too familiar scene" with a young child which we can all remember. Great job!
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