Is it a temper tantrum?

The Little One is starting to exert his will on stuff.. it can be wanting to touch a certain item, or wanting to eat in a certain way, or even run around naked. It drives us nuts, cos we know that he does it more when sari is not around and its just his old mummy and daddy on sundays. At the end of the day, we would be so knacked that we would just collapse on the sofa. But i have also seen that when its just Sari and him, he doesn't do all that? Why?? My mum says its just basically trying to bully us, as parents.

I read this particular blog regularly, Ask Moxie. Was trying to understand sleep regressions then and chanced upon the blog when i did a google seach. Its written by a mother who isn't an expert in parenting but i like it cos it has a huge following and they provide some useful comments and insights about parenthood. There is this entry about temper tantrums: http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/11/qa_18monthold_t.html

Description of a average 18 month old: "This age is rough. It's rough on the kids, because they have all these emotions and desires they don't know how to manage. Sounds like the back of a romance novel, but you know what I mean. All of a sudden they realize that it would by possible, hypothetically, to express their wills and get what they want. But they just can't seem to do it to make it work the way they want it to because the facility with language just isn't there yet (unless you've lucked out and have a signing superstar). That makes them little cauldrons of frustration and hurt."

Hmm.. sounds a bit like what justin is going through. He can be all happy and then whining over something so small. But if we manage to get what he is trying to say, the smile comes back on! And boy is that smile a delight to look at.

Well, most books recommend that we either a) ignore them or b) comfort them. We are using the (b) option... i know that we worry that we will spoil the kid but somehow i am not comfortable yet in ignoring them.. he is too young now. But not sure how we will react when he gets older. I find that when i spend more 1 on 1 time with justin, he is happier and more well behaved. Its when i tend to rush things through that he deliberately or seeming so, decides to do things his own way.

Am reading this book "The Happiest Toddler on the Block". Hopefully it will provide me with more insights.