Tyrant Tyler

I think the terrible twos has struck our house yet again.  It really wasn't that bad with Kaitlyn, but it's getting to be unbearable with Tyler.  He's always been a little more sensitive and will cry at the drop of a hat.  I'll be the first to admit that I get really exasperated with every time he cries because he doesn't get his way, but I usually ignore it and he's fine until you tell him no again.  Lately though, he has been a train wreck.  His tantrums are turning into fits of rage.  He doesn't just cry anymore.  He's moved on to bigger things like kicking, hitting and screaming.  He also will run and throw himself on the floor if he's really peeved about something. 

The thing that really sets him off these days is eating at the dinner table.  He absolutely refuses to sit at the table.  At first I thought it was because he didn't want to sit in his highchair anymore, so I put it in the garage and put Kaitlyn's old booster seat on a chair for him.  No go.  He doesn't want to sit in it either.  We do have a little kiddie table in our dining room and I wouldn't mind him eating there, but he will not sit still.  He usually gets up, bothers Kaitlyn, pushes her out of her chair, etc.  He tries to steal his plate away from the table and take it to the living room and it's such a battle taking it away from him, him throwing a fit, and then trying to get him to come to the table, repeat ad nauseum.  I'm just so exhausted I usually don't fight with him and remove his plate from the table and put it on the counter where he can't reach it and wait til daddy comes home to try and feed him.  Usually this works, because I leave for my run, but I'm so over the tantrum.

He's also big into fighting bedtime.  Sometimes he fights the bath, even though he loves to play in the tub.  Sometimes he gets upset when I take the toothbrush away from him, even though I ask for it right before he gets in his crib.  The other night he wouldn't let me read to him so he ran screaming to his crib and then screamed because I put him in it.  I try really hard to keep his bedtime routine consistent, but it's just not working. 

I'm hoping that this phase will pass as quickly as it came, but I fear that my strong willed boy, who unfortunately inherited my temper, will break me before I break him.