Terrible two’s???

Today was one of those days where I wish I could put myself in a time out and only come out when the kids are in bed. Sanjay drove me crazy today. I am not sure if it is terrible two’s or something much worse. He woke up in the morning and started crying and did not want to go to day care. Sarath’s school was closed today so, I was working from home and I guess that made things worse for Sanjay. All through bath and breakfast, Sanjay kept whining. This has been going on for 2 weeks now and we kind of got used to it. He wanted to go on a flight and we immediately told him that our car is the flight and he went with dad (aka pilot). There is a background story to this as well – both the kids have been playing “going on a flight” for over a week now. They pretend to be in a flight all evening and night and in the morning the flight lands and they go off to school and day care 🙂 There are times I play along with it just to make Sanjay eat dinner and go to bed. Yesterday, he wanted to take a nap sitting in a chair because that’s how we have to sleep on a plane. I told him that we have business class tickets so, we get to sleep properly and he instantly came and lied down on the bed. (Do you think we are a bit crazy family?? Wait there’s more….)

So, going back to my first point, he went with the pilot to the day care and there he started telling his teachers that he wants to go on a boarding flight. He was apparently very upset that the teacher did not let him go on a flight. When I went to pick him up, I explained all our crazy flight play and guess what… the teacher said, she will play along with him tomorrow if that makes him happy 🙂 She said she will even make him a ticket for the flight 🙂

On our way back from the day care, I took the kids and went grocery shopping. Sanjay had a few tantrums at the store but, luckily, I was able to manage and  come home with just what I needed. Then, I started making dinner and the kids played together. Then Sanjay would not let Sarath play at all. He kept interrupting and destroying Sarath’s blocks. Giving him a time out did not work. I finally had to raise my voice and that helped a bit.

Then there was the usual fuss at dinner. By this time, I was having a very bad headache and did not have any energy to deal with this whiny kid. So, I just let him eat what ever he asked for and that part went well. Later come bath time which is usually a very happy time for Sanjay. But, today he was determined to throw a tantrum at everything he could. He cried because, I was giving him a bath with warm water. He wanted cold water. I tried to explain that the cold water is very cold and it will not be nice. He just wouldn’t listen. After 15 min of crying and me trying to explain, I lost it. I took a mug of cold water and poured it on his feet. He then realized how cold the water was and asked for hot water.

After bath, I told the kids to get into bed and read books while I went in for a quick shower. Having a shower usually relaxes me. When I finally went in to read books, it was okay. Sanjay was happy and everything. When I switched off the lights, he started crying for everything possible. He was crying so much that I had to give him another time out which did not work at all. After a lot of effort, he finally fell asleep. Sigh!!!

I just hope it goes well tomorrow.