wreck

Dylan,

You were an emotional wreck yesterday.

It was odd behavior -- more of degree than kind, I think -- as you repeatedly flew off the handle in major crying fits that would last and last, then end as abruptly as they had begun.

The first was with Mom at Spanish class: The teacher was pretending to feed a doll. She offered the doll some food, and the doll refused.

This shook you.

You cried inconsolably for the last minutes of class and then all the way home where Mom put you down for a nap that lasted only 15 minutes.

You blew up again just as I pulled in the driveway. You ran out the back door of the garage, picked up a flower you had been playing with earlier (that came from the neighbor's bush) and acted as though someone were coming to take it away from you.

I carried you inside. The flower seemed to lose it's importance, but still you cried. I told you to go ahead and cry as much as you needed to. You stopped almost immediately and told me you were all done.

You blew up once at the table during dinner, and exploded again when I put your cup of milk away before you were really ready. I was glad Mom told me the details of Spanish class before she left for a class of her own, so I was able to say some reassuring things when you blurted out "the baby needs more foo-ood".

I took a picture to show you:



It fascinated you such that you stopped crying again and posed for more:



You went off the rails again when I started to leave the room to get things ready for bedtime. And then once more when I said "no" to a request for something you wanted (I'm not even certain what) off the ledge in the shower. You did the curled-bottom-lip-over-extended-jaw howl as you clambered out -- not staying to play and watch the last drops of water go down the drain, which you usually treasure -- and got into your bathrobe. Then you stood atop your potty chair, still crying, and peed all over yourself.

As I was saying, that's not like you.

It seemed you had a remarkably empathetic connection with that doll, and you couldn't stand the thought of its needs not being met.


Dad


UPDATED: I had the doll story wrong. It was the doll that refused the food, not the teacher who refused the doll more food.