A juice drunk child, tantrums & fireworks!

Tate’s first public tantrum; have the terrible two’s arrived early?

Over the Guy Fawkes weekend I thought it would be nice to take the kids to a fireworks display. I love going to see the fireworks, especially as I have two offspring to go with.

It was Tate’s first time so I thought I would go to a small Church one, local to us. Usually Faith & I go big at Crystal Palace every year, however I thought it might be a bit much for Tate at just 18 months old. For his first time anyway.

So off we went, arriving nice and early to buy tickets on the door as the online early bird tickets had sold out. We arrived in the Church Hall and we were instantly met with the smell of hot dogs. You got one free on entry and unlimited hot & cold drinks, fruit and sweets. For £3 it wasn’t bad.

Tate was having a whale of a time running around, weaving in and out of the crowded Church Hall which I frantically tried to stop him doing to no avail. He was trying to steal more hot dogs from the counter, attempting to pour his own drinks from the supplied jugs, trying to push his buggy around the now packed hall, then squealing whenever I put the breaks on.

By now we had only been there 15 minutes and the fireworks were not due for another hour. I was literally counting down the minutes to strap him back into the buggy, so he could sit quietly and enjoy the fireworks. Poor Faith and I had to team up to keep the boy under control.

‘More please,’ Tate said pointing to the jugs of juice. He had already had 4 half cups of juice. I should point out, Tate’s palette doesn’t get as exotic as juice. It’s usually just bog standard water, so in toddler terms he was basically drunk on juice. I said ‘no Tate, you can have some of your water’ I proceeded to get his bottle out of my bag, when I caught him picking up a random persons drink and going to drink it. I DIVED across the table to stop him, sending the drink flying into the air whilst also knocking the other 5 or 6 drinks off of the table.

Tate shouted ‘JUICEEEEEE!!’ Heads turned. Then it happened. Tate THREW himself onto the floor and screamed. Kicking his legs, putting his back up and bawling uncontrollably. Next to him was a huge puddle of squash from the drinks we had managed to knock over.

I broke into a sweat. I went over to him to try and get him off of the floor, offering him a banana as an alternative. I regretted this almost instantly as it caused him to throw it and turn the volume up another notch.

I could feel the stares. You know how us humans are so judgemental. We’ve all been there when someone’s kid is having a full blown tantrum and we’re sitting there judging just because by some miracle your child happens to be behaving at that point in time, then we start comparing? Yeah, I’ve been that Mum. Lol. Only because I guess when your child passes that phase you tend to forget! However, in saying that, I am also that empathetic Mum that likes to give Mums that reassuring look. You know that one where you reassure another fellow Mum with your eyes. Yeah, that one. Sometimes it’s needed.

So next time you see a tantruming child, rather than judge, help a flustered Mum out by giving her ‘the look.’

One lady, bless her, looked so awkward as she was right next to us just said ‘Oh, hasn’t he got lovely curls’ the relevance at that moment in time? None. I could see she could see my frustration, but I so appreciated her attempt at diverting the situation even though it made no difference.

It’s been a decade since I was last dealing with toddler tantrums, so I’m a little rusty!

Poor Faith was so embarrassed as she knew some of the church members. She regularly attends that church with her Nan, so I could see her frantically trying to help resolve the situation, but Tate wasn’t having it at all.

I look around at the other kids close to his age and they were all sitting so nicely in their buggies, sipping their juice and eating their hotdogs so sensibly. So why was my boy the one to be that child??

I quickly scooped him up off of the floor, then cradled him. Tate resisted. I had to take my jacket off. I know it was like 4 degrees, but the heat I was feeling resembled that of a holiday in St Tropez!

Tate scrambled out of my arms and I just let him go. He was juice drunk. Tripping over peoples feet, falling over and giggling. I decided at this point to retreat back to the car and wait for the fireworks there.

Best decision I made that night.

Tate and Faith sat in the car for ten minutes listening to music, then it was time for the fireworks. THANK GOD- because at this point, I was so ready to for the display as I knew the kids would love it and Tate would relax.

I took Tate out of the car and strapped him down into the buggy. I had parked on the road and actually had a better view of the fireworks from my car, so we decided to watch them outside of the Church grounds.

*whistle, BANG*

The fireworks begun. Tate literally would have gone flying out of his buggy had he not been strapped in by the buggy restraints. He screamed. Faith and I couldn’t help but chuckle. Faith even said something along the lines of ‘haha, serves you right for being cheeky in the hall’ 🤦🏾‍♀️

I took him out and sat him in between Faith and I on the wall. Tate literally cling to me for the rest of the display, squealing every time I tried to adjust him. He had mixed feelings about the fireworks. He loved the pretty lights and the orange moon (did you guys catch that on Sunday night?Amazing right?!) but Tate did not like the sounds.

With some positive words and exclamations after each loud bang; WOW! Woah, look at that one! Aren’t they beautiful?! Tate eventually got used to them, but of course right at the end.

Then came the look of confusion and disappointment. He put his hands out like this 🤷🏾‍♀️ and looked up at me and said ‘fashworkkkk?’ (Firework) to which I had to sign to him ‘they’re finished!’ - Tate used to be a regular at Baby Sign Language classes and I also did a course in Sign Language, so we often communicate in this way. Once he saw me sign ‘finished’ he lost all interest and asked to get in the car. 😂

On the way home, we saw many fireworks light up the sky to which Tate excitedly exclaimed ‘fashwork Mummy, look!’ He did this to every bang he heard as he was now a firework enthusiast/expert. When we got home, we sat in Faith’s room and watched the numerous displays from her window for 10 minutes, then it was bedtime!

My favourite time of the day.

I think next year we’ll venture back to Crystal Palace and go to the earlier kids show as that has less bangs, but we’ll see how it goes!

If Sunday’s tantrum is an indicator as to what’s to come, then I’m staying indoors until he gets to about 5 years old! 😂

I have noticed recently that everything is a big deal to Tate. Especially when I say no. All hell breaks loose. It’s funny at home, but no so funny in public.

All in all, it was lovely seeing the fireworks with the kids, however the hour leading up them was mayhem. To be honest, I expected nothing less. 😂❤️ xoxo

#ATouchOfFate