Terrible Twos Too Soon

Everyone knows about the “terrible twos,” but in our house, the famous phase strikes earlier, at around 14 months.

I had forgotten that my 3 ½ year-old daughter’s temper began to flash and flare shortly after her first birthday. It took us parents by surprise then as it has now with her baby brother, who just had his first big, certifiable tantrum.

Isaac took his first real break from his usually sunny personality in the wee hours of last Wednesday morning, when he woke up around midnight, demanded a bottle, drifted back to sleep and then woke up with the express purpose of freaking out. The wake-up happened as my husband was gently placing him back in his crib, post-bottle. That prompted a siren wail that didn’t cease for about a half hour or so.

Nothing could calm him, nothing would appease him—not turning on the TV for distraction nor playing with one of his favorite toys. We dosed him with Ibuprofen, thinking maybe we could chalk it all up to teething. We put him on the floor so he could scoot around, but that wasn’t what he wanted. We each tried holding him close, but that only netted us baby punches. We offered him another bottle, and that worked for a minute or two. But then the crying came back. Not even the big burp he eventually let loose could ease Ike's secret suffering.

In my midnight haze, I don’t really remember what finally caused him to relax. I suppose he just wore himself out by expending so much pent-up energy. Then I remembered that Lucy did pretty much the exact same thing two years ago when she was his age. I distinctly remember her kicking and screaming in between us in bed in the middle of the night at least once.

So in this respect, I can brag that my kids are precocious, gifted and talented, if you will, by being months ahead of the terrible twos.