Communication Barrier

I think they are called the "Terrible Two's" because the child get so easily frustrated at not being able to communicate. He knows what he wants, he just doesn't have the language to let you know. Especially when he gets tired, the effort is frustrating and he gets angry and inconsolable, and no one can figure out why.

Nick used to point in a general direction and say "Osh?" and then meltdown when we gave him blank looks.

Today, just before bedtime, Andy started crying. "Mine!" He was saying. "No! Mine! Mine!"

And I had no idea what he was talking about. I hadn't taken anything from him. His brothers hadn't taken anything from him. We were all just going in to read stories. "Mine!" he screamed. "Mine!"

"Your what?" I asked.

"No! MINE!" he screamed.

I tried consoling him, but over the past few days I've learned that Andy holds a grudge. He will cry loud, angry tears of vengeance, and sit under the table, refusing to let you pick him up. And he will do it for a long time.

I tried ignoring him, figuring he would get distracted by the book and hush. Instead, he cried louder, and I had to read louder, until I could hardly hear myself.

Then he took the next step and stuck his snotty, tear soaked face in between my head and the book. "Look at ME! I'm telling you something! Something upsetting! And that thing is : MINE! Mine! MINE!"

At one point I turned to him and said "OK, Andy. Go get it." And he stopped crying and left the room. I thought he would come back in with something that was his, or something that might start with the letter M. Or maybe something that ended with "Ime." But instead he just started crying again, as though he had been looking for something and someone had moved it.

This was when I turned to his brothers.

"Does anyone know why Andy is crying?"

"Yes!" Nick said. He was stretched out in Nate's bed, ignoring the whole fiasco. "He's crying because he is tired."

Oh. Yeah.

Maybe Nick should be the mom.

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