Release the Kraken!

Last night, Lucy had a full on temper tantrum....I dare say the first of its kind.

She's had outbursts before, or as one of my sisters noted, meltdowns, but never lasting more than a few minutes and usually easily diffused by lovingly pinching and tickling the chubby little bits on her upper leg.....

Not this time....

This was a full on temper tantrum. I'm talking a crying, screaming, tear shedding, body thrashing, head tossing temper tantrum that lasted 45 minutes!!!!!!

Can't tell you what set her off - I put her in her chair for dinner and she lost her shit.

It started out with just a bit of crying, and then body twisting.
The next thing we know, she is howling at the top of her lungs and throwing herself back against the chair....really hard and really fast.

At first, we tried to calm her down...I thought maybe I had pinched her hand when I put her in her chair....I'm constantly catching her poor little hand in the tray when I slide it on.

But, within a minute, I realize it is simply a temper tantrum.

So we let her go thinking she'll work it out as she normally does...I think she may be like us; too lazy to keep going on with it as temper tantrums are exhausting!

So Sean and I bustled about doing what we normally do when we get home which last night happened to include putting the groceries away.

Having just written that, and in the interest of full disclosure....the temper tantrum might have been my fault. When we come home from work/day care, Lucy and I usually go outside and play until Sean gets home. Then we go in for dinner and a bath. Last night was too hot to stay outside and play so Lucy and I hit the grocery store on the way home. She started to get antsy at the end but chilled out when we were in line and laughed all the way home....but maybe what set her off was her lack of play time....

Anyway, Lucy is throwing herself against the chair (repeatedly) and wailing and crying and blowing snot bubbles through her nose and spit bubbles from her mouth. She would sort of start to calm down so one of us would tentatively offer her milk or her dinner....but as soon as we got close, she reared up again.....

So we sat down and had our dinner.

I tossed a couple little Gerber cheese curls on her tray and she scoffed them up like a starved little rat....but when I tried to hand her a cup of milk, she started screaming again.

I had my last bite of dinner and took her out of her seat. I figured a snuggle might help and frankly, after 30 minutes of screaming, I had a bit of a headache and caught myself starting to laugh at her a couple times so I thought I'd see if we could put an end to the tantrum.

She settled down, but only for a minute or two (she was catching her breath I think) She started squirming and thrashing on my lap so I put her down onto the floor. She then proceeded to roll around slamming her head on the wooden floor and getting tangled up in the legs of her dad's chair.

MUMMY'S NOTE: AT NO POINT DURING THE TEMPER TANTRUM WAS LUCY HURT OR IN DANGER OF BEING HURT. SEAN AND I BOTH KEPT AN EYE ON HER AND IF WE THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO HURT HERSELF, WE'D EXPERTLY SLIP OUR HAND BETWEEN HER HEAD AND THE FLOOR. I REPEAT, NO LUCIES WERE HURT IN THE MAKING OF THIS TEMPER TANTRUM.

Sean cleaned up the dinner dishes, I scooped Lucy up and we went and sat in the living room.
We had a little chat on the couch and she started to calm down...but then I made the  mistake of putting her on the floor.....she crumpled like a rag doll and threw herself around like she was overcome by some spirit...I honestly expected her to start speaking in tongues.

Instead, she just rolled around and got herself wedged between the end table and her baby doll carriage. She actually ended up underneath the baby doll carriage....

But we continued to ignore her. I sat on the floor (close by her in case she decide to impale herself on her Cruise and Go Jungle) and Sean was sitting in his chair. All of a sudden, the crying ceased....the Kraken appeared to be at ease....she slowly wandered over to her pile of books and pulled out her favorite two books opening them to her favorite pages........and she was quiet.

We made no sudden movements or noises and avoided eye contact for fear of setting her off.....

Somehow, we coaxed her into the kitchen where she played with her barn magnet on the refrigerator.....and then she moved towards her high seat and pointed to it like she does when she is hungry and ready to eat.....and then with a big smile, she says "Hi" while waving her pudgy little hand at us. We smile back and she says Uh-Oh as she raises her arms in that Uh Oh gesture.....

We gently ease her into her seat, serve her dinner and let out a sigh of relief that could have powered metro Boston for a week

The rest of the evening progressed as it  normally does:
Sean draws her bath
I undress her
She scuttles into the bathroom to watch the tub being filled
She pees on the floor
Sean lets her throw her toys into the tub
She has her bath and brushes her teeth
She gets a rub down, clean PJs, a couple songs sung by Mummy (accompanied by Jack Johnson) and a final snuggle from Daddy before she is laid down for her evening slumber.....

And that was Lucy's first official temper tantrum

Maria, the Mum