Tuck the Toy Bandit may be mending his ways.

In general Tuck is still grabbing stuff from Emi but over the weekend James and everyone else ignored all his tantrums so they are evaporating pretty fast. Today I added a new element by picking up Emi and paying a lot of attention to her after he grabbed a toy and then threw himself on the floor when I returned it to her. That one lasted only a few seconds!

Emi has a bad case of diaper rash and it is making her very touchy, on the verge of tears all the time. As a result, he twice today took a block from Emi, and she started to absolutely sob. Both times, he looked stricken and tried to give it back. Of course she wouldn't take it at that point, but it is a new concept for him. He was also very concerned about her when she cried at mommy-and-me class last week, toddling across the very large room to tug on my pants and look worriedly up at her.

I realized today that a tantrumming toddler is not all that different from a kidnapper. Essentially, they are holding themselves for ransom -- "Hand over the shovel or I will smash this boy's head on the ground and throw sand in his face" (this boy being himself -- he really did this at the playground while I was gone, I was wiping sand out of his ears all day today!) It goes without saying, then, that they should not be negotiated with. But I can now see why parents have a hard time resisting the temptation.

Random accomplishments of T&E today: Both -- turned the CD player in their room on and played a CD, repeatedly. They went right for the play button every time. Emi -- showed that she could unlock the keypad on Chrissy's phone. Emi -- turned on James's iPod (which was sitting on a low windowsill) and boogied to the Rolling Stones(!). Later, turned it off and walked away.

Both -- finally waved bye-bye to people before the people left the room! Tuck -- spontaneously used the sign we invented for Tracy's name when she arrived (sign looks like a Time Out signal that a referee would use). Emi -- when I finished changing her diaper, rubbed her hands together to indicate it was handwashing time (something I usually say to her at that point but have never used a sign for). Later, when I was telling someone the story, Emi "piped up" by repeating the gesture every time I said "wash hands." Emi -- waved byebye to Chrissy the moment before she fell fast asleep and dropped her bottle. Indicating that we should teach her to say or more likely, sign some version of "goodnight"?

It is a veritable cacophony of silence around here.