[jkvkdailey]

Kevin turned 2 on Saturday, and we had a fun Elmo party for him on Sunday afternoon. He was awesome, had a nap before the party and was all smiles for his relatives. Then Monday came, and it was like a switch flipped. He threw a tantrum for 30 minutes Monday night, kicking and screaming because he wanted to open the dressing room door (we were at swimming lessons for Vince, he was good during the lessons, but then got impatient).

He kept opening the door while his brother was getting dressed, so I stood in front of the door until we were ready to go. I told Kevin to open the door, but by then he was mad at me and he said "NO". So I opened the door and we left. That's when the screaming started. In hindsight, I probably should have went back and let him open the door, but I just kept walking to the car. The screaming lasted while we stopped to pick up supper, all the way home, and for 10 minutes after we got home (until I could get Elmo on TV and distracted him). I tried holding him, talking to him, offering to let him open the house door, but nothing worked.

Last night we had another episode at Wal-Mart - not as severe though. He wanted to ride the Mickey Mouse car but I told him it was time to go. I did let him play for a few minutes (it's in the arcade area), but then I said Mickey had to go night-night so we had to leave. The tantrum lasted until we got to the car and I turned on the DVD player.

Did I do the right things? What should I have done differently? I know that I went thru this with Vince, but I honestly don't remember what worked.

Kim