Mr. Hyde, I Presume?

There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going. There's no knowing where we're rowing, or which way the river's flowing. Is it raining? is it snowing? is a hurricane a-blowing? Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing......

- Willy Wonka

Welcome to Mr. Hyde's Tantrumland!

At Mr. Hyde's Tantrumland, you do not keep your arms and legs inside the carriage. At Mr. Hyde's Tantrumland, The Flail is the official state dance. At Mr. Hyde's Tantrumland, anything can set you off. One minute, you will look like this:

And then next, like this:


94% of the time, the J-Dawg is a cheerful guy. For the most part he's relaxed and not bothered by things, but lately he has been having some incredible tantrums. Interestingly, the thing that most often sets him off is his wanting to be held (not a problem), and us NEEDING to stand while holding him (not an easy task for long periods of time).

Let me just say that I love holding my boy. I love feeling his arms around me and his head snuggled into the crook of my neck. I cannot, however, carry his 25 pound, 12 ounce body around for long periods of time without my arms seizing up and feeling like they're going to fall off. Sure, I use the sling to help distribute the weight and that helps quite a bit, but still.

So, as a compromise I figure I'll hold the boy, sit down, and both of us will be happy. Right? That's how compromises work, yeah? Uhm. NOOOOOOOOOOO.....apparently Jasper didn't get that memo and when I sit down, something inside him snaps. All of the sudden the usually cheerful boy turns into a kicking, screaming, flailing freakishly-strong-for-his-age monster and no words, no offer of sippy or binky or even bottle can get through to him. Good times.

Eventually he'll settle down enough to be comforted, but the ride to get there is pretty tedious and fraught with landmines. I know this is just a phase and eventually it too will pass, but man! It sure isn't fun getting eyeballed by the general population for being a terrible parent with an uncontrollable child! I now have nothing but sympathy for all of the parents of children who have public tantrums who have gone before me. It ain't easy, I can attest to that!