Henry left the tantrum phase behind many, many months ago. Good news, yes? The problem is that he traded in tantrums for outright defiance and seems to be sticking with perfecting it.
Earlier tonight, right before Daddy got dinner ready, I told Henry that I would help him put all his coins back in his train bank. It was time for him to wash his hands, and we would take care of the coins after dinner.
I forgot all about it and was lying down beside him in his bed when I remembered that the coins were still scattered across the living room rug.
Silly me. I decided to mention it and tell him that we could pick them up tomorrow if he got ready for school really quickly.
Bad move.
All he wanted to do was to get down and pick up the coins, which would take about 45 minutes given his state of mind. He understood that I would take the coins away if he tried to go into the living room. Still, he would get halfway down his stepping stool and say, "I really am going to go in there!"
I couldn't stand how much I had to pee. I told him that I would go to the potty, and I hoped that he would make a good choice and get back into the bed since, by this time, he was standing beside his bed, still threatening to go into the living room.
It was a good extra ten minutes before I checked on him and found him curled up on the floor beside his bed. Thinking he might be asleep, I whispered, "Henry?" He rolled over to look at me with eyes wide open.
"You need to get back in bed."
"No."
"Are you really going to sleep on the floor?"
"Yes! I'm not getting in the bed."
"OK. Night night."
About ten minutes later, he started crying and got back in bed, citing a dirty floor. He tried to demand that I get back in the bed, but this Mama can't get up and down, and I sure don't want to waste an up and down on a cave in.
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