My son has entered this stage of life with considerable gusto.  He seems to do everything with large amounts of enthusiasm, which, for the most part, is utterly delightful.  For instance, I had the opportunity to take him swimming two times last week, and he loved it.  He was only too willing to put his face in the water and practice blowing bubbles.  He kicked.  He splashed.  He is demonstrating an affinity for the water not unlike me and my mom, both of whom might as well be fish.  Similarly, he repeats everything he hears, but, often, at a considerably higher decibel.  He's just a happy little guy, and it's such fun!

But, then, there are those moments.  You know the kind.  They're the ones that come from nowhere and serve as strict reminders that these small humans are still not entirely capable of rational thought.  They are alarming and annoying and, sometimes, even amusing.  They are the Temper Tantrums (dun dun duuuuuuuuun).  My boy has infrequent tantrums, but when he does, they're a delight for the eyes and the ears.

Typically, he operates in phases:

Step One: Let lower lip quiver with hummingbird-esque speed.  Let a single tear drop so that Mom knows the utter horror of her refusal to let me do something.

Step Two: Run to wall and pound fists and/or forehead no less than three and no more than five times.

Step Three: Lay on floor (facing upward), provide the neighborhood with a sampling of ear-piercing screams, thrash legs violently.

Step Four: Stand up, stomp around, and throw a few things over the gate and down the stairs.

Step Five: Sneak a peak at Mom to see how she's responding.  Repeat as needed.

What's especially impressive about this ordeal is that steps 1-5 can happen in as little as 8 seconds when my boy is really on his game.

Last night, however, Andy had cries that melted the heart of his big-hearted momma.  Somewhere around 1:30 a.m., the poor little guy started screaming and crying from his bed and, when I ran in to check on him, he was standing up (still asleep) and screaming "Where did Mommy go?" and shaking considerably.  I scooped him up, and tried to wake him up and calm him down so that he could see that I was there and be comforted. It took a few minutes to get him to stop shaking, but there was no putting him back into his bed--he started trembling the second I went near it to grab his blanket to take into bed with us.  Nightmares are no fun.  Happily, once he saw that both Joe and I were okay and in bed, he was able to snuggle up and go back to sleep.  But it took me a few extra minutes to settle--I was just so sad for him.

Only three months from his 2nd birthday.  Sheesh...time flies when you're having fun/temper tantrums/nightmares!