In the beginning....

My Dervish was a little more than 2 years old and we were off to shop.

My oldest, My Dervish, My self and My Mother headed out to the store.

The trouble started like a wild fire when my Dervish, prized marble in hand (this was the marble obsession stage) realized that he would not be pushing a cart in the crowded store but would be riding in one. Instantly upon being lifted towards the cart, the screaming began and the prize marble was hurled out into the store.

I watched it hit the hard floor and heard it bounce off into the distance. To the left I thought as I carried the screaming child football style out to the car. I calmly strapped him into his car seat and tried to talk to him to no avail. I told him, through blood curdling screams, that when he calmed down, we could go back into the store. I closed the car door and leaned against it trying to figure out why my child was unable to be consoled or calmed as my older son had been.

All the while the car rocked and the screaming continued. The rocking was the force of him thrashing about in his car seat beneath the 5 point harness.

Every 20 or 30 seconds or so I would turn back to him to see if there was any sign of letting up... or exhaustion. Finally I opened the door and asked him if he was ready to calm down. NOOOOOOOOO! he screamed. I closed the door again.

After a while there was second of silence and I quickly opened the door again seizing the momentary calm to attempt to get going. He said "Marble".

I asked him if he was ready to go back in and he agreed he was and as if it never happened he happily walked into the store chatting about his marble while I tried to brace him for the surely inevitable fact that we would be unlikely to find the marble.

He walked in the store like he owned the place and calmly walked down one isle, turned left into a small hallway and picked his marble up from the corner of the isle.

And so it began....

My Roller Coaster Kid - Parenting the Emotionally Intense Child