Like a volcano...

Today TJ had his first meltdown.  We took him to the mall to play in the kids area (which consists are giant pieces of breakfast food like eggs, cereal, waffles, etc.) and he played for quite a while.  Then he discovered the exists and took off a total of....ok I lost track of how many times he tried to run out.  After the Nth time he took off, he was told if he did this again we would be leaving because running away from mommy and daddy is not acceptable nor is it safe.  Needless to say he tried taking off once more so we packed up and proceeded to head out.  He started to cry and bend himself backwards (the toddler version of the alligator death roll) and then started screaming, "play, play, mama, daddy, PLAY!"  Needless to say, it was a sight to see.  Granted, this wasn't the worst tantrum I have witnessed, but it was TJ's first real battle.  We walked around for a bit and distracted him with various questions, "What's that? Who's that?" until the tears stopped and he was his normal happy self.  I can say that I have been preparing for these tantrums by helping TJ to learn about feelings, but todays experience has me thinking about more ways he can learn how to express his feelings.  *phew*