I Scream for Ice Cream

I think I tend to have the opposite of "hindsight-is-20/20."

For example, I have found myself saying recently, "There is no way that William was ever like this." "This" as you may have guessed is the way that Andrew has been acting recently, as he is firmly in the throes of the Terrible Twos.

Today, for example, Andrew threw an epic tantrum. We had to wake him up early from his nap because we were going to the big annual Miss Martha's Ice Cream Crankin' event at First Presbyterian. We go every summer. It's tradition. And it's an event focused entirely on ice cream. What's not to love? But Andrew needs his beauty sleep, so anytime you have to wake him up early, you do so at your own risk. So we woke him up...he was okay for a minute or two, and then he remembered, "Oh yeah! I'm two!" and proceeded to go nuts. The thrashing, the kicking, the screaming. Oy. It took me, William and David all holding him down in order for me to buckle him into his car seat. He was like a rabid dog or a mad tiger. As we drove off, he howled. And howled. And howled.

Finally, he grew hoarse and tired, and he stopped howling. Then he was cheerful. And he was cheerful for the rest of the day. Whew. We arrived at the Ice Cream Crankin' and then he discovered that we had woken him up for a good reason: ice cream.

Yes, there is a method to our madness, dear son.

And yes, of course William threw tantrums and became ridiculously unreasonable when he was a toddler. Now, granted, this happened closer to age three for him, but it still happened. It's just that it's easy to forget when Andrew is the one tantrumming wildly and William is the one standing next to me, with a furrowed brow, trying valiantly to hold both of his brother's arms down so he won't hit me with them. William's a good kid, have I mentioned that recently?

For comparison's sake--because who doesn't love to do that?--I'm also posting a picture of William at the same age, devouring ice cream like his life depended on it.

I remember that day so vividly. We handed William a cup of ice cream and a spoon, and his eyes lit up. Then we did the unthinkable: we actually encouraged him to get even more ice cream when he finished the first cup. You could practically see him thinking, "Oh my God, do they know what they just gave to me? Quick, give me more ice cream, so I can eat as much as I can before they realize what they've just done!" William ate tons of ice cream today, too, just so you know. Some things never change.

Side note: I really do love comparison photos. Here's another set from the Nashville Zoo: