Ingrid is developing a temper. She has outbursts of anger when the world does not behave the way she wants. The trigger can be anything – seeing the wrong kind of food on the table in front of her; not getting to play with CDs or my wallet; not getting to see Teletubbies. (She is very fond of Teletubbies, but if she watches TV too late in the evening she can’t go to sleep afterwards, so she isn’t allowed to.)

If she is tired, the outbursts develop into full tantrums, complete with tears, screaming, arching her back, and throwing herself on the floor. She’s still new to this, so her tantrums pass quickly. The anger goes away, and we have a hug, and together we make the tears go away as well.

I definitely get the impression that the tantrums are beyond her control. Her initial anger may be such that she won’t let me hold her, but afterwards she is always a bit sad and wants a cuddle. She isn’t doing this to try to manipulate us. (If she did, she would have given up already, because throwing a tantrum has never led to Teletubbies.) She just can’t control her feelings.

When she isn’t tired, she often releases her anger by shouting, hitting or throwing something – knocking over her cup, or throwing her toy on the floor. Which is interesting, because it’s started all of a sudden, and she cannot have learned this from anyone (unless it’s other children at the nursery), so it has to be an instinctive reaction. It is funny – in a way that seems so grown-up, so un-babylike, but what it really means is that adults who throw crockery and slam doors have the emotional maturity of a toddler.