Dear God. The screaming. The ear piercing, toe curling, mind melting, soul crushing screaming that is emanating from my little boy these days. These screams often come without warning or reason, and last hours (ok, more like minutes, but they feel like hours). These screams are so impressive, our next door neighbors can hear them as if Sam is in their house.
It is as if Satan himself has possessed our little boy, turning his normally sweet persona into that of a total ass-hat, complete with a never ending stream of screams.
Of course, not all of the screams are of unknown origins. Sometimes I know what has triggered them: I had the audacity to say “no”, I didn’t pick him up for one reason or another, Irene has hugged him for too long, I refused to read “Moo, Baa, Lalala” for the 15th time in a row, etc. Sadly, those account for less than half of Sam’s evil screaming fits. The rest of the screams come without warning or reason.
These screams hurt. And since they often come without warning, you are not able to prepare yourself for the sounds that are about to come.
The screams are so high and loud that they cause a physical reaction in Peter.
I remember back when Sam was in the NICU, my mom and I were worried that Sam didn’t make any noise, let alone scream. That is not the case anymore. Now, it is rare for a second to go by that Sam is not making one noise or another. Of course, most of the noises are pleasant and cute. His vocabulary is growing daily, and the words are getting more and more complex. Sam even has a few sentences: “I did it”, “I got ya”, “Bye Bye Dada”, and “I love you”.
It’s just those screams that make me long for those quite days in the NICU when I worried about his vocal development.
Of course, with the screams happening with no warning and often for no reason, taking Sam out of the house or, god forbid, to a restaurant, is a total crap shoot. More often than not, either Peter or I can be seen sprinting from a restaurant, Sam tucked under our arm, apologizing profusely to the poor people in the restaurant who had their ear drums assaulted by our little man.
I hope this is just a phase. I don’t know what I would do if this is not a phase, and a short one at that.
Kylie says
It’s just a phase. It’s just a phase. It’s just a phase.
As he gets more words the screaming will stop and he’ll just shout instead!
My ex 27 weeker is now 3. I get yelled at now “no mummy, no no, you must go and sit on your computer and leave me aloooooone!”
Sometimes, I wish I had the screaming back!
melragent says
I hope you are right. I have visions of him in full scream telling me where to go…. not sure which would be worse!
Amy Heinz says
Trevor was a screamer too. Most of them happy, all of them loud. I was panicked and posted on a parenting board about it. One woman was totally offended and said I was trying to squash my son’s voice. No, just trying to save a few ear drums along the way. May the phase end quickly so you can look back and laugh. Or just be really glad.
melragent says
Thanks Amy. I wish Sam’s screams were happy screams. They are always mad or frustrated screams and come with their own set of tears and body flails to boot! Nice to know my son is not original in his screaming… strength in numbers!