Holy Tantrums Batman!!

This little angelic face can go from smiling....

...to face frowning, legs kicking, arms frailing, screaming uncontrollably in seconds.

This puzzles me so. I am not kidding when I say seconds! Everything can be perfectly normal and happy and then we do or say one thing that doesn't work for Joshua and the tantrums begin! It is very frustrating as a parent to try and figure out why they are throwing these tantrums and why you as the parent are sometimes the last person they want to comfort them. Joshua is very much an independent kid. He wants to do by himself. He doesn't necessarily have to have it "my way or the highway"(because Dan and I do not cater to that) but he does like to show his form of independence, which is a very good thing. The problem with this new found, head strong, independence is that if we even try to help him he completely melts down! It breaks my heart to see him like this. We are working on ways of expressing our emotions, but man is it tiring. We have had fair shares of watching him flop on the floor like a fish, fall to his knees in public while screaming and much more. This is just another trying moment in the toddler world. It is a battle that will soon go away, but when you see your sweet, little child reacting like a monster, it just breaks your heart. We are learning that with him we need to ask if he wants mommy and daddy's help instead of just helping him out. It does work some of the time. I guess he just feels like he can't do it if we step in and help him out. I am thankful for my strong willed, independent boy and I am also thankful that we have more happy faces than we do tantrums!!

PS: I write this blog for a couple of reasons: 1. To continue to show you that we do have trying moments in our life, it isn't all just about what we did on the weekend or pictures of happy times. We are still living LIFE! and 2. If anybody had any suggestions or ideas on how to help minimize these tantrums, I am all ears.