Circle Bread with Syrup

Let me start this post by saying that we think the world of Wynn. He’s such a smart, funny and sweet kid and we couldn’t be prouder of him. However, it seems we’ve entered the lion den of the terrible twos!

We’re not sure if Wynn’s behavior has changed because of the addition of his sister, because he moved up to the preschool room at school and is now with the 3-5 year olds, or just because he’s two, but something has awoken the beast! It probably is a combination of the three. Our past few weeks have included some epic meltdowns, patience-testing whining and an unrelenting stubbornness. We try to stay strong, not give in to his demands and encourage politeness, but some things are not always worth the battle. The title of this post refers to one such dinnertime battle.

One evening we were having pizza for dinner. Wynn was upset from the start because it was a store bought pizza and not one he got to help make. He usually is not picky and will eat whatever we’re having. This particular night I was trying to be considerate of his feelings and toasted up a piece of bread to make a mini pizza. He had fun spreading on the sauce and topping it with cheese and pepperoni. We put it in the microwave for a few seconds to melt.

I’m not sure if he expected it to look more like a real pizza, but he was not happy when it came out. He started whining to take off the cheese and meat. He’s very good at expressing himself with words, so there was lots of ‘That makes me upset’ or ‘That makes me really sad’ and ‘That makes me really mad.’ I couldn’t figure out what he wanted me to do so eventually it turned into all out sobs.

After crying in the pantry for a few minutes (this is where he goes when he wants to be alone), he began asking (while still sobbing) for ‘circle bread with syrup.’ What?? I can assure you this has never been on the dinner menu in the Weiland house, so I have no idea where this came from! At this point the tantrum had been going on for a good 15 minutes, so for the sake of peace and quiet I complied, cutting a piece of bread into a circle and putting it onto a plate with some syrup for dipping. Low and behold, the 'circle bread with syrup' worked and restored the peace in our house!

To give Wynn some credit, these episodes usually only happen around us and are in the evening when we’re all tired from the day. He also has days where he’s a peach and such a joy to be around! It baffles me how one day he can cry because you didn’t let him turn the lights on, the water while rinsing out his toothbrush is not coming out fast enough, his room is too dark, he’s not wearing the right shirt to bed, etc. and the next day he doesn’t complain about one thing and goes with the flow. My favorite is when he cries because Nora is crying too loudly. Let me tell you, two wailing kids is SO much fun!

All kidding aside, we know that it is normal for Wynn to test his boundaries and get upset when he doesn’t get what he wants because he can’t always understand the reason behind it. We know that this too shall pass and in the meantime we just have to smile through it. We love our little testy toddler!