Monday, April 7

Temper Tantrum

Matilda's joke for me on April Fools Day was to throw her biggest fit yet. She got me good. I think I responded poorly at the beginning of the fit, plus she was overtired so it spiraled into a 45 minute battle of the wills. Let's just say I think we named her accurately since her name has derivations in "might, strength" and "battle." I thought I should post this as a public service announcement to show the side that isn't roses and sunshine. This video is taken a good 30 minutes into the tantrum, I was feeling helpless with my ineffective calming techniques and figured I might as well capture the moment. She had long since forgotten what started the fit (a question of television viewing: I said "no," she said "yes, now.") and was now screaming "more birds" as she wanted me to narrate her through one of her nature books. However, regardless of how many or what birds I showed her, she continued to scream "more birds" so I didn't really see the book as resolving our problem. In the end, I strapped her kicking, thrashing self into the stroller and marched her out the door. After more then 4 blocks she stopped scaring the passers-by. By the time we got back home, a 10 block loop later, she was fragile (as was I) but reasonable.

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