Tyler is experiencing some big emotions lately. He is doing a good job of expressing them, which I think is key to preventing him from being too confused. With these emotions, he's been stamping his feet, throwing his arms down at his side, grunting a loud grrrrr, and more. He tries crossing his arms but apparently his arms are too short to cross the way adults do. I think it is key to help him identify his feelings so he is in touch with them, so I say things like "You are frustrated. It is frustrating when we don't get what we want." Dada, on the other hand, says to Tyler "Put on your happy face." Yet another reason why children need two parents in the home. Balance.

Yesterday, Tyler was having one of these frustrating moments. Here's how it went:
Tyler (whining): I wanna watch Elmopalooza
Mama: I'm sorry, I don't understand you when you whine.
Tyler (forcing a happy face): Can I please watch Elmopalooza?
Mama: Oh buddy I wish we could watch Elmopalooza but Gavin broke our DVD player. Remember when he was playing with it and not listening to my words? He broke it.
Tyler (throwing his arms down by his side): Grrrrr. I want Elmopalooza. Put it on the DVD Mama.
Mama: I can see you are frustrated because you want to watch Elmopalooza and we can't because the DVD player doesn't work.
Tyler (stomping his feet): I'm NOT FRUS TRA TED!
Really?! I never would have guessed. A few minutes go by as I walked out of the room. Tyler tracks down Dada asking him for Elmopalooza. Dada explains we have to buy a new DVD player because Gavin broke ours.
Tyler: Mama put Elmopalooza on the DVD. It's not broken.
Mama: Tyler, I am so sorry the DVD player is broken but we can't watch Elmopalooza without it. Darn.
Tyler: You need to go buy a new DVD.
Mama: Tyler, we're not rich.
Tyler (stomping his feet and lowering his voice an octave): YES! WE! ARE! RICH!
At least these emotions are far more entertaining than those terrible temper tantrums he used to have.