It's happening...

One of my favorite scenes in Bridesmaids is when the bride is trying on an expensive wedding dress and is running across the street to a bathroom and finally stops and squats down in defeat, saying simply "it's happening...it's happening...", and we can all guess what's going on underneath that dress. This is kind of how I feel about Bumpus' new toddler behavior. I want to run away from it or hide it under a dress. Or have it not be happening.

It's been ramping up for a couple of months. But today was the first day I wanted to just put him in a room and slam the door. Apart from the night before my event when he wouldn't stop fussing, this is the first time I've actually been angry with him.

I had him down for a nap around noon when he started to rub his eyes and look tired. He screamed for a bit but then slept nicely for 45 minutes. However when he woke up crying, he was inconsolable. No amount of singing, rocking, milk in a sippy cup, snacks, waving at the baby in the mirror, burping, diaper changing, or playing would stop his ear-piercing screams. We had to get to a meetup downtown so I figured hey, we'll see if the car calms him down, and if not, we can always just drive around and then go home again. Well, he still screamed in the car for a little bit, then settled down and was mostly ok until my usual unpleasantness when taking the baby out to any parks - he only wants to molest everyone's purses and shove gravel or bark into his mouth at lightening speed. And then when I pull the offending substances out of his mouth or try to redirect his crawling he bucks and screams like a crazy person. Or, like a one-year-old. So meeting up to let the babies lie around on blankets is no longer feasible for me. Sigh. Ditto mommy & me movies and mommy & me yoga.

Anyway I have no idea what today's meltdown was about. Was he still tired? Hungry? Wet? Gassy? Full of existential angst? Who the hell knows? He's too little to tell me and hasn't grasped signing yet despite my desultory efforts. Now is just that hard part - big enough to get in trouble, not big enough to understand "no" or consequences.

The good news is all of the gals at the meet up had exactly the same experiences; we spent the whole time commiserating about the new behavior and how baffling and exhausting it is. That actually made me feel much better. Just knowing everything he's doing is totally normal at least takes the worry out of it. Now it's just surviving until he outgrows it!

And right now he's being totally adorable and happy in his jumper. That's my boy.