Time Out Time

Having been through terrible twos once already on my own, and having listened to numerous tales of terrible twos, one would expect that I would be completely prepared to handle Yog as he approaches that stage. Alas! I admit I am not at all prepared. Somehow, when I held in my arms for so many months, kissed him good night, twirled his little fingers in mine, I always considered him to be an angel sent straight from heaven to save me.  Deep down inside my heart, I always belived Yog would be different. He would not throw tantrums over food, not break things apart, not jump from chairs and above all, not disobey me. Sigh!! How wrong I was.

He is barely fifteen months old, and I was forced to give him his first time out today. I know it is shocking. How could that adorable baby already reach this milestone!!?!

Heres the story behind this milestone.

I have been suffering from a serious back pain since some days. To avoid aggravating it, I try not to bend to pick up Yog whenever he demands to (which is like 90% of our waking time together). This morning was as choatic as any other morning, as Toyna prepared for school and I prepared for breakfast. In addition to the already existing chaos, my hurting back was making me slow and grumpy. As expected, Yog oblivious to the choas and my hurting back, wanted to be carried in and out of the kitchen. We somehow managed to send Toyna to school and stepped out for a morning walk. I was hoping that Yog would let go of me and enjoy the flowers, friends and rocks on the road. But today, Yog didn’t want any of that. Maybe he sensed my withdrawl from him in some way, and wanted to make up for it by clinging extra close to me throughout. I literally ended up carrying him for most part of his walk. If I would let him down, he would scream his way right back up. Figuring that this was not working out as expected, I dragged myself and him back home. As we climbed the steps inside, Yog reached out for my cheek (in a way you approach someone for giving a kiss) and bit me hard on my cheek. Ouch! I screamed in pain, and landed him in a corner of the room – Time Out Time had finally come!!!

He sat there screaming his heart out and was rescued by his grandmother. My heart cried for abandoning him when he needed me, but my back couldn’t take the strain anymore. Looking back, I realize, there was nothing different about Yog today. He was just behaving the way he normally behaves. What was actually different in todays equation was “me”. My hurting back was my problem. How could Yog understand that? All the grumpiness from my sickness was actually making Yog also grumpy. He was just bouncing back the same emotion that he was catching from me. Maybe, the person who actually needed a time out was not him, it was me.