Why Our Toddler is Crying

When Caleb was two, he went through a typical toddler phase in which he'd cry and melt down for the dumbest reasons.  It was so bad that I started taking pictures of his meltdowns in order to help myself laugh through them instead of being frustrated all the time.  Then I had the idea to post pictures with the theme "Why Our Toddler is Crying" but never got around to doing it.  Now, however, Kai is going through the Terrible Twos and I thought it was an appropriate time to post some meltdown pictures.

First, a few of Caleb back in the day:

He asked for yogurt...and I gave him yogurt.

He wanted to plug the lights into a different outlet.

Mama wasn't done eating dinner.

And now, a few of Kai:

I said he had to eat all the Lucky Charms, not just the marshmallows.

The snake "won't stay on track."

I put the sausage in the microwave.

In their defense, sometimes toddlers melt down for completely reasonable reasons, like being told it's bedtime when it's still sunny outside.  (Daylight Savings Time is so confusing!)  Or when the stack of books in his hands keeps falling out of his hands because he simply can't hold them all.  (We've all struggled when coming face to face with our own weaknesses at times.)  Life at Two Years Old can be rough.  It's such an independent yet oh-so-still-dependent time of life.

Most recently, Kai broke out crying for a reason that I'll never forget.  We were driving home and he started bawling when we pulled onto our road.  "I don't want to go to the lakehouse!"  I asked him, "Kai, if you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?"  And with tears in his eyes, he choked out, "I want to go to Kenya.  Go on a plane to Kenya."  Because we've been talking about going to Kenya and riding on an airplane to get there, but we haven't done it yet, and gosh darn it, why would you eat candy in front of a kid and not let him have a bite?  He's anxious to go.  So anxious, apparently, that returning home to the lakehouse one night was too much to bear.  Kai wants to go to Kenya!  Soon enough, big guy.  We'll get on that plane in two days and be on our way!