First Real Tantrum....

Yes, Tucker has shown some disapprovement when I take something away from him that he shouldn't be playing with, or when it's time to change his diaper, or put lotion on after a bath, but he is always pretty easily redirected. Nothing that I would necessarily classify as a full blown tantrum. Well, we had our official real, everyone-is-staring-at-you-Mama-so-you-might-as-well-just-give-me-what-I-want tantrum a few days ago. The kind where I definitely wanted to give in but I had to keep telling myself that I was the Mama and I had to win this battle. Or maybe it was the fact that I knew if I caved then, I was just postponing the inevitable and I might as well get it over with. Probably the latter, but that's neither here nor there...

Allow me to set the scene for you. We're in Hilton Head. The day starts off innocent enough. We decide to take a bike ride to the beach. Tucker's all rearing to go!

We arrive to the beach. There aren't many people around at all. Wes, Tucker and myself had parked our bikes about 30 feet from where we were playing in the sand. The temperature was perfect, about 80 degrees. The water was a little chilly so we were keeping Tucker's water encounters to a minimum. He has happy to dig in the sand..... but only momentarily before wanting in the water. We would pacify him by allowing him to put his toes in....
but of course, that lasted all of 20 seconds before this water bug was headed full speed into the water! He was not at all phased by the fact that it was a little cold. and we were off chasing him.

Two hours later and Tucker was pretty much soaking wet. Every time Wes or I would attempt to dry him off or move him further away from the water, he would fuss and do whatever he could to get closer to the water. Not wanting him to stay in the cold water any longer than he already had, we decided it was probably time to head back to the house. So, I picked up my wet, sand covered boy and *attempted* to put him in his bike seat. Now mind you, during the time we were playing in the water, about 10-12 people had parked their beach chairs less than 10 feet from our bikes, facing the direction or our bikes. So basically, we had a front row audience as my 11 1/2 month old screamed, cried, arched his back, kicked his legs, and do whatever he could to keep from being put in that seat. Not only did I have to get him in his seat but keep him from rubbing sand in his eyes during this ordeal and get his helmet on (safety first!). I'm not sure how long it took, it felt like FOREVER, but we managed to get Tucker strapped safely into his bike seat. On our way to the bike path, our audience who was laughing (yes, you read that correctly - LAUGHING!), waved and said "bye bye" to Tucker. All I could do was muster up a fake laugh followed by"too much fun in the water!"

Here's Tucker still fussing.....

though that didn't last long (thankfully) before he was distracted by the straps to his seat.

He was fine for the 7 minute bike ride to our house, but once we walked in and he saw my mom and grandma, he immediately looked at them, made a very sad face and started to pout and fake cry! That little stinker! He was looking for pity from Memaw and GG and telling on Mommy and Daddy for making him leave the beach!

Oh, the things to come from my Tucker Bug!