Friday 20 March 2009

It's only a stage he's going through...

Our maid said that Oscar would 'change' once recovered from his tummy trouble. Smarter, more words, more physical abilities... and she's right. Instead of saying 'bah' for banana, he now says 'bah naa'. Instead of just reaching up to grab something off a table, he now stands on tip toes and really stretches to get the desired item.

But one unfortunate development is the onset of tantrums. It began when I refused to give him his third bottle in a row of electrolyte solution. This orange-tasting drink (note 'orange-tasting' - who knows what colourings and flavourings are added?) was vital to keep Oscar's fluids and essential minerals up while he was sick. But on the road to recovery, not so essential in the quantities that Oscar wanted to consume.

Oscar took great umbrage at this: screaming, screeching, crying, collapsing to the floor, rolling around, then getting up to scream and cry louder and louder. Distractions didn't seem to work, but simply ignoring the hoo-ha thankfully did.

I thought the electrolyte solution was the key to Oscar's tantrums, but no. We went cold turkey on the electrolyte solution and he's still had a few tantrums. Thankfully, he hasn't tried anything like head-banging the floor, but he did throw a wobbly in a taxi yesterday - much harder to handle in public.

I'm now clinging to the hope that this behaviour is sugar-related - I'm cutting down his sweet popcorn and biscuits. If not, the mantra is: it's only a stage, it's only a stage.

1 comment:

Meerkatsu said...

Ignore. Best policy. In fact turn it into something like a game. Next tantrum happens, you react in the opposite manner - humming away merrily or pretending to be fascinated by a far away object etc etc. sort of works with Dylan. But he's so damned insistent.