Want to stop a toddler tantrum Get goofy and make them giggle instead
Chapter 1 He’s about to Hulk out McCoy’s little hands curled into fists He sucked in a huge breath of air and prepared for an epic screech Once the three-year-old got started on a tantrum it would be impossible to stop him He’d have to exhaust himself and McCoy didn’t exhaust easily Brianna Wei calculated the distance to the living room sofa where she’d left what she called her Mary Poppins bag It was stocked with a bubble blower and bubble solution sock puppets a kazoo and other tantrum-busters Way too far away Bri decided She swooshed her finger through the smear
of ketchup left on her dinner plate and started drawing red whiskers on her face McCoy blinked His mouth was open ready for screaming but no sound came out Bri quickly finished the whiskers and let out a long meow McCoy blinked again hands still fisted mouth still open It could go either way Bri began to sing I’m a little kitty nice and sweet These are my whiskers She pointed to the ketchup on her face these are my feet She waved her hands When I go out hunting mice beware Or you might just get a scare She popped her fingers wide McCoy blinked once more and giggled Yeah Super Babysitter triumphs over Hulk again McCoy had clearly forgotten the unfairness of being denied a second after-dinner cupcake when he really really really really wanted one Bri smoothed her straight black hair and smiled
Again he cried Bri launched into the song again Then she taught it to McCoy who insisted on his own ketchup whiskers They crawled around the house pretending to be kittens until bath time After one bath two games of Candy Land Bri cheated a little to let him win one and three bedtime books she sprayed the closet with Monster Away air freshener with a special label Bri made and turned out the light She headed to the kitchen She knew McCoy would be asking for a drink in a few minutes so she took out a sippy cup Now that he was three sippies were for bedtime water only The rest of the time he drank from big-boy plastic glasses Bri had that fact and other important info on color-coded cards red for emergency numbers orange for house rules yellow for food blue for
