More mysterious toddler behavior deciphered
Last night Claire had a huge meltdown when we tried to feed her dinner. A dinner guest was due to arrive and we figured our little one wouldn't want to postpone eating until the guest came. I sat her at the kitchen counter and started doling out food. She instantly became insensed, screaming and hurling food at us. She was freaking out so bad I thought she was going to vomit.

I pulled her out of the high chair and took her to the dining room to give her more space to have her tantrum. The screaming and gagging continued for several minutes. I tried holding her and that calmed her down. Finally, we moved to the living room and I read her a book as her post-crying hiccups abated.

She played until our guest arrived, then showed interest in eating in the dining room with us. Eventually she ate happily in her booster seat, the guest none the wiser about her previous outburst.

Tonight she again threw a fit over dinner. When Joel and I sat down to eat, I put Claire in her booster seat in the dining room, attached the tray and put a bowl of food in front of her. Again, she angrily threw food, cried, screamed and gagged.

We let her down, figuring she wasn't ready to eat yet. After a prolonged jag of kicking and crying, she calmed down and showed interest in eating. I put her in the booster seat, no problem. Then I attached the tray. More screaming and food throwing, then she kicked off the tray. I looked at Joel in exasperation. A look of sudden inspiration flashed across his face.

"Honey, do you want to sit close to the table with Mommy and Daddy?" he asked, pulling her booster seat up to the table.

The tears instantly stopped. I pulled a placemat out and put it under her bowl. She very happily ate, proudly practicing with her toddler fork.

All she really wanted was to eat at the table like she'd seen her little friend Ezra do at our playdate Wednesday morning. The fact that she'd pointed to the booster seat on Wednesday evening and said "Ezra" (okay, she calls him "Yeah-ruh") didn't mean much to me at the time. Now I realize she was trying to tell me she wanted to emulate how he eats.

Joel says it was the tray kicking that finally cued him in. He figured these tantrums were caused by simple frustration. She wanted something and couldn't get us to understand what that desire was.

I think we'd better brace ourselves for a whole lot of "I do it myself" in the coming months.