Ballistic tantrum
Last week, our toddler Drake woke up from his nap fussy; things just escalated from there. Soon he was in a full-on raging tantrum, and nothing we tried would calm him. We sang, we rocked, we walked, we offered him toys, we took him out into the fresh cold air, I even broke down and offered him both the regular phones and my cell phone, but nothing stemmed the screaming. After twenty minutes, I remembered that this had happened to me once before, only I’d been alone and the tantrum had gone on for forty minutes. I’d put Drake in the car, figuring that he’d be safe in the car seat, and the driving calmed him quickly. Again, putting him in the car calmed him. His screams subsided to quiet hiccuping sobs and sniffles and finally disappeared altogether. Then the rest of the night he was fun, happy and charming. It was a freaky, upsetting little interlude.