It’s the run up to the temper tantrum that I find the hardest where you think if I just carry him a little longer or let him choose his yogurt or make his sister hand over the purple pen then he will let go of the “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! I want to leave the faucet running forever.”

But once he’s screaming, the snot is pouring down his face, and every time you say yes, he finds something else to be mad at you about, well, I don’t mind being in the zone. John handles it by putting in earplugs under his headphones and then decamping to the t.v. room—his own little personal time-out. Once I’ve decided there’s nothing I can do until the storm passes, I can just tune him out. Tonight, I held David on my lap while I continued to eat my dinner, and I gave myself permission to read Entertainment Weekly, so really, it didn’t go so badly for me.

With Rose's temper tantrums, I had to time it until she had partially returned to sanity, and then there were long cuddle sessions and negotiations. With David this time, at some point he left my lap and went to the living room to happily decorate Hannukah stickers with Rose.

One temper tantrum down, at least two more years of this to go.