Toddler tantrum number 1

Well, we’ve had our first tantrum (although I have to say it was muted compared with some other children I’ve seen in the past…maybe I’ve become immune to crying now I’ve got a child of my own).

Admittedly, N had been in the buggy for a while as it was wet while we were shopping in Stratford, and as very little there’s under cover, there’s less opportunity to let him amble around at leisure.  We’d gone to the out of town centre to grab a couple of bits that we couldn’t find in town, so I didn’t bother with the buggy…always a mistake when there’s going to be shopping bags involved.

Bought a couple of bits in Boots for which they gave me a huge bag, and of course N wanted to carry it.  No help allowed, which meant it would be dragged along the floor.  Not a happy bunny walking to the next shop but I managed to stop too much moaning by giving him one item to carry from the bag.

Then of course he wanted to be carried in the next shop.  I found a pack of vests in his size (old man style because the baby vests are never long enough in the body for him), but would he carry those instead of dragging the huge bag? Nope.  So I let him drag the bag to the tills (all the people wandering behind us saying “ah”).  Then he didn’t want to go to the tills (this was Matalan, if you know what the hell of tills and queue on a Saturday in that shop is like, you’ll probably agree with him), so picked him up, paid and off we went.

I offered him the small bag of vests as I thought that one was lighter and smaller, so less likely to be dragged, but of course that wasn’t an option, so he turned round, lay on the floor on his front, right by the queue exit and moaned…I can’t even say it was screaming, because it was much quieter.   The other shoppers were virtually climbing over him.  It looked really funny, although I suppose I shouldn’t have laughed.

The only solution as we were on a short timescale was to pick him up and the 2 bags and manhandle him out and to the car with him squirming and virtually tipping himself head first out of my arms.  He’s really getting too heavy to carry any distance now, so it was a bit of a pain that I’d not been able to get any of the parent & child spaces and had some way to walk.

All was fine once we were in the car, bags all forgotten, and once we were out of town and up to speed, he was asleep.  I think a mix of tiredness, hunger (getting a bit close to lunchtime) and boredom wasn’t good.

Let’s hope they continue to be as rare as they have been so far.