A baby of two minds

The above pictures represent the current fluctuation of mood in the baby who resides within our home. Most of the time, she is a cheerful, sunny, self-entertaining bundle of curly-headed delight, but some of the time, she is a determined little chucklehead that weeps and thrashes about when she doesn't get her way.

Over the last few weeks, she has developed the habit of throwing tantrums. There is plenty of arching and teeth-gnashing and bucking and screaming and rolling about, but they remain mostly an amusement for two reasons. One is that she is so small and impotent I can't help but feel sorry for her. Two is that the initial falling to the ground to commence the tantrum is done so very gingerly that it loses all its theatrical power. She is smart enough to know that if she just flings herself to the floor willy-nilly she will likely injure herself and, lets face it, isn't the point of a tantrum to inflict pain on your parents? So when I stop her, oh, from trying to put a plug in the outlet by herself or drink out of Frankie's little potty again, she abruptly sits down with a thump, widens her mouth into an aggrieved wail, and then ever so slowly lays herself down on the floor where she can roll around and then sit up for a while and then slooooowly lay herself back down. Somebody needs to tell that child that a true tantrum involves wild thrashing without regard to one's own physical welfare; it really loses something in her version.