Tantrums Galore

(Editorial Note - I've had this draft saved for a week or so in my e-mail, so adding it now. A bigger post with pics from Erin's birthday will follow this weekend)

Most of the folks we know with small children have smiled at Erin’s two year old tantrums and said “Wait until 3, then you’ll really see tantrums”. Well, we figured Erin was so verbal and ahead of the curve that the tantrums really couldn’t get any worse than they were. Hah.

Apparently Erin is still ahead of the curve because just weeks before her 3rd birthday she began the three year old tantrums. A snapshot of a night a few weeks ago:

Mom/Dad -“Erin, it’s time to go to bed”
Erin -“I don’t want to go to bed, I want to go downstairs and watch TV”
Mom/Dad- “The TV isn’t on downstairs”
Erin – “Then I want to go in your room and put the TV on”
Commence screaming, and 35 minutes of procrastinating and crying before finally being bribed to bed with promises of her upcoming birthday party.

Fast forward to the next morning
Mom/Dad – “Erin, what color shirt today?”
Erin – “Pink”
Mom takes out a pink shirt.
Commence screaming – “NO, I want the blue one and blue socks. Dark Blue Socks. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

Rinse, lather, repeat with the cup we chose to put her milk in, the pony tail holder for her hair and the shoes we went to put on her feet.

Then add in Sarah and Sloane realizing that they are almost 2 and should really start ramping up to keep up with their sister. Sarah’s using her new language explosion and putting it to good use “No, Miiiiinnnnnnnnnneee”, “No doggie – DOWN”, and the perpetual top 10 hit “Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine”. Sloane saves her tantrums for either 10pm or 2am – leaving her parents very tired recently.

All kidding aside, they are actually fairly well behaved – at least in public places. We’re lucky that they all play very well together and for the most part have learned the art of not killing each other. Adding baby Bobo to the mix is sure to change the dynamic but we think that they are all so in love with babies that she/he will be quite fawned over. In fact, it seems like Sloane is the only child to figure out that something’s going on – she regularly points to my abdomen, pats her own and smiles and says “Baby”.