Toddler Tantrums

Grandma has a question.  What is up with these tantrums?
My grandson will be turning 22 months in a few days and he is starting to have tantrums. Pooh Bear is a great toddler. He has potty trained pretty easily. He eats well and until recently taken good naps. He is very friendly and loves to play with his cousins and knows how to gently pet animals.He listens well when given instructions. He is so full of laughter and happiness. He even has started to act silly to get laughs from his parents.
Why the tantrums?  When Pooh Bear has a tantrum at home we just pretty much ignore the tantrum unless he is being dangerous. What should we do in public? At this point we talk to him calmly and hold him the best we can. Then we leave the store as quickly as possible. The problem we are having is we can't always leave quickly. Pooh Bears mother and I just don't like the idea of being controlled to the point of drop everything and run to the closest exit. We don't like being the center of attention in the grocery store. I also hate to force everyone to have to listen to his high pitched screaming for the 30 minutes it might take to finish our shopping. I know there are many moms and dads who have this same problem. I have seen them in the store myself in very much the same predicament.  Advice is welcome on this subject.

Toddler Science Experiment

The past few weeks I noticed my grandson was fascinated with  the mini box fan I have sitting on an end table. I have not had a problem with him inspecting the fan and enjoying the air moving over his face because the grill over the front has very small openings. We checked it out and his little fingers can not pass through the openings. He has not really played with it but he liked to stand in front and let the air blow through his hair.
Today I decided to show him how the moving air can blow paper around. I held up a napkin and let him see it blow across the table. He squealed with delight. I gave him different types of paper and cardboard and watched him absorb the information. He learned to lean the fan just right to get heavier paper and a wadded paper ball to move across the table. After a few minutes he ran off to his toy box, thinking he was ready for something new I switched off the fan. A minute later he returned to the fan with a hand full of toys and asked me to turn the fan on. I was amazed at his thinking. He tried  toys and other objects around the house. I could see his little mind running high speed trying to understand why some things were moving and others were not.
Finally in the end he exclaimed with his toy cow in front of the fan "stuck."

                                                                                   

                                                                           

  

Traveling While Potty Training!

We are back from our little trip. Traveling with a toddler in potty training can be done with just a little effort.. Sure, it was not easy. We had some big bumps in the road this weekend. When we started our trip I knew not everything would go as planned but, I was not expecting any big issues. Driving was not a problem. We stopped often for potty breaks and had no accidents. My grandson understood he had to sit on the potty each time we stopped and he did fantastic.

Where did we run into trouble you ask? Well, once we arrived at Grandma Bonnie(that's me) and Grandpa's house the fun began!

First, I will let you in on a secrete Grandma and Grandpa's house is the family gathering place. At any given time you will find babies, toddlers and children through out our house. My grandson arrived to find three toddlers his own age and a newborn baby. The entire weekend consisted of play, swim, sleep and eating.

In the beginning of the weekend we offered to take him to the potty. Each offer was met with a simple refusal.

In the middle of our weekend we started to insist on taking him to the potty. This was met with tears and pleading no, no. We finally gave up and put him in pull ups.

I  just wonder was it the strange bathroom , was it all the fun and excitement  or just maybe everything was  too overwhelming.

Today, my grandson is back home and happily using the potty! With no lasting side effects from our little trip.

I welcome any tips or advice when it comes to traveling with a toddler in potty training. Until next week, good luck to all you potty trainers.