If there was any doubt in my mind, after today it is gone! Liam is a toddler. He had a full out, the world is coming to an end temper tantrum of epic proportions at the pediatrician's office this afternoon.
For the most part, he is still my sweet, cooperative, adorable baby boy, but then, out of now where comes the stubborn, testy, independent toddler. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of things I love about toddlers. I love listening to him learn to say new things, his favorite thing to say lately is "E I E I O". I love watching him learn to do things for himself and most of the time that he wants to do things by himself. I love watching him socialize and interact with other people.
However, he is already one of the most stubborn toddlers that I know! And he remembers EVERYTHING! Which is a good thing much of the time but also a bad thing. If you let him do something once, you can be sure that he will remember and do it again. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, but he will do it again!
This afternoon, Liam was playing very nicely with two little cars in the waiting room at the pediatrician's office. Everything was great, he was his usual happy, friendly self until they called his name and I told him to put the cars down. He looked at me and started to follow Daddy, cars still in hand. Being the horrible mean mother that I am, I made him put the cars away. (I knew that a melt down would ensue but I also know what happens when parents give into their child's every whim! And I am not going to be one of those parents!) Once the cars were pried from his death grip, he dropped to the floor and started to scream. He refused to walk into the examining room. He didn't want to be carried. It was not a pretty sight.
I was sure that a change of scenery and his own cars from the diaper bag once we got into the room would fix the problem. Boy, was I wrong! The screaming and crying continued while the nurse weighed and measured him. Again, I thought that once she was done bugging him, he would play happily with his cars until the doctor came in. Wrong, again. He threw his cars, he kicked and continued to complain. It continued through the whole appointment.
And then came the needles (18 month booster and MMR shot), well as you can well imagine, that just made everything worse! Once we left the office and were out in the hall, he was still going, hitting me and pushing me away from him. When I finally put him down he took off down the hall away from me. However, let him walk to the elevator and out of the building by himself seemed to help the situation. And a sippy cup of milk in the truck fixed it all! My happy boy was back!
The appointment went very well. Liam is a healthy growing boy. He is 25 lbs 5 oz and 31.5" tall. Hard to believe that 19 months ago he was 5 lbs, 5 oz and so sick that he was hospitalized twice in the first few weeks. I am so glad that we are past those days! I just hope that temper tantrums like today are few and far between!
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