Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Tonight the kids were polar opposites. Iris was happy and smiley.

Simon threw a tantrum all through dinner and just until his bath and bedtime. He first insisted on building an army tank with Legos before dinner. Impossible since we didn’t have instructions and not easily just to put together. So he refused to come to the table for dinner. When Ron got back from work, Simon started to come to the table but then got fixated on a light in the hallway that wasn’t working and insisted on wanting it to be on. Then one thing led to another until he finally calmed down, requested a hug, ate some fruit, took a shower, brushed his teeth, read a bedtime story and sang his bedtime sing with Ron, and went to bed.

Through it all, Iris was happy and smiling and didn’t seem bothered. She had her bath and went to sleep easily. Amazingly she only woke up once last night so I hope she repeats that tonight.

Simon’s tantrum might be related to some kid at school not sharing a toy with him which he mentioned to Ron. Since he couldn’t “control” that situation, he was trying to exert his control at home. We do our best to empathize but also to teach him that not all kids know how to share and there are times when they prefer to play by themselves with something. He’s the same way at times, wanting to play alone but also at times, only wanting to play with others. He was in a great mood when I picked him up from school but how easily the situation changes. *sigh*…