Brighton Beach
House on Red Corner · 2007-05-26
EJ decided tot take things into her own hands today. I apparently brought back the wrong kind of thing from the snack bar. I had chosen a burger because it had a few choices in it: meat, lettuce, tomato, bread; all things she has liked before. She was singularly unimpressed. She took the paper it was wrapped in, screwed it up, and threw it away. Then she put her shoes on all by herself and proceeded to walk resolutely off toward the boardwalk. Nathan and I were so astonished that we didn’t follow her for quite a while. She stopped to talk to a woman sunbathing - she must have said “I’m off to get my own lunch because my mother just doesn’t understand me.”
She wasn’t quite so headstrong when it came to the frigid Atlantic Ocean. She took quite a bit of convincing. We put an end to her just getting her tiny toes wet by grabbing her and dunking ourselves all in together. After that, of course, we couldn’t get her out. Squealing, splashing, smiling little girl.
I have developed an effective tantrum-hold which comprises me putting one arm through her legs and the other over her lower shoulder, clasping my hands, and carrying her horizontally facing outward. After her tantrum, she was really worn out and fell asleep for the subway ride home.