Charlie the Tantrum-Throwing Headbanger

There are some days that are great, other days that are not (and lots of days that are in between, up and down, very ordinary, etc.)

Today was NOT a good day.

To say I felt frazzled would be an understatement. Today was a day when I wished I could push pause, speed up and skip to bedtime so I wouldn't have to listen to Charlie's screaming and crying any more.

Charlie was SUCH a mellow, sweet little guy from about 12 months to 18 months. Now it seems like he's flipped into the early stages of terrible twos... throwing crazy, long tantrums like I mentioned in recent posts. He's still sweet, super snuggly, and a loving little boy. But when something happens that he doesn't agree with (and often makes no sense), he flips out and it takes a long time for him to get over it.

This morning Charlie woke up in a somewhat decent mood. I helped him get dressed, and then we headed downstairs to eat breakfast. The minute I strapped him into the booster seat and tried giving him the usual bowl of honey nut cheerios, he went berserk. Pushing the bowl away (I finally moved it because I knew he would push it off the tray) and squirming, trying to get out of the seat. He wanted nothing to do with any of the other foods that I offered him. Here is an example of his screaming (the video is pretty sad):

Charlie Screaming Part 1 (Aug 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

After I shot that video (the camera was on the kitchen counter, so I grabbed it initially out of desperation - at least by getting a video, I could show Ben later and he could understand the magnitude of Charlie's fit), I took him out of the seat to see if that would improve his mood.

Nope. Still screaming, now also throwing himself on the floor and banging his head.

Charlie Screaming Part 2 (Aug 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

And finally, I went into the dining room because I couldn't take it anymore and he followed me, still crying and banging his head on the floor:

Charlie Screaming Part 3 (Aug 2010) from Sarah on Vimeo.

And in case you're wondering whether there was a mark left from Charlie's constant forehead banging on our hardwood floor...

(At least he smiled a little bit today!)

The fun continued this afternoon, when Charlie screamed in his crib for 30 minutes. I ran up to check on him, and he of course had a stinky diaper and had thrown his blankie out of the crib. I changed his diaper, put him back in the crib with the beloved blankie and he screamed for 15 more minutes. I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when he was finally quiet (I know he had to be tired after his screaming this morning), but an hour later, Eli was running loudly through the house and totally woke Charlie up, who was sad and sensitive for the rest of the afternoon/evening. It has to be his teeth coming in, right?? Please? Tell me the drama will end soon. I can't take more forehead banging. I felt so depleted by the end of the day.

Ohhhh Charlie boy. Tomorrow has to be a better day!