Froggy: The rabble rouser.

Poor E has been MIA for a while due to work. P rarely vocalizes this absence, his sudden neediness says it all. Instead of having 10 minute blips of independent play every couple of hours he is glued to me, demanding a constant playmate. He asks when it will be Saturday. Lots of play food gets set aside for Papa, stories of Papa polar bears get pulled off of the bookshelf. Much to Phoenix's excitement, E was home this weekend and that meant it was due time for Froggy.

Froggy is a soft puppet Grandpapa gave P for his first birthday. E has this special voice for Froggy - one I cannot duplicate - that P adores. He often asks me to do Froggy when E's been working a lot and then sighs, saying "That not how Froggy sounds. That not how Papa doodit." Truth be told, even if I could do the voice, I still couldn't "Do Froggy." Froggy is like E's evil alter-ego. He steals P's toys and runs off with them only to be tackled and bitten by an angry P. He plays guessing games, always guessing incorrectly, causing complete wrath to rush from P. He basically spends his entire existence baiting and wrestling (or being abused by) Phoenix. I've been torn by these dynamics for a while - I was more the "feed the baby" kind of kid than "hang the baby like a pinata" kind of kid. But he loves rough play. And it gives him someone to rail on without anxiety, his aggression can run wild, unhampered by "Please, I take a turn?" But the real reason I've never said anything is, for whatever twisted reason, P loves it. Usually.

Yesterday, still getting over the stomach flu, P was super sensitive. Froggy was being his usual annoying self, taking P's abuse and begging for more when P had had enough. First, Phoenix requsted something sharp, preferably the carpet knife I had been working with, to use on Froggy. Shortly after being placated with the slightly safer screwdriver, he stormed out of the bedroom and announced "I Don't Like Froggy Anymore!" He usually gets mad enough at Froggy to ask me for help, but will be giggling 2 minutes later. This time he continued to storm and stomp and even yelled at E and I over various needs. "Give me Water!" "Where's my car!!!" This was veeeery out of character. While he has Constant demands, they are generally phrased in graciously angelic terms. "Mama, please I have more water?" "Mama, please help me find my yellow truck." Or even just a neutral "Where's my squishy T-rex?" or "Waaaaater." He's been sick, we gave him his space, his water, his car. Gentle attention didn't calm him. Fulfilling his needs didn't soothe him. He was, quite frankly, just out of whack. As he stormed into the playroom an hour later I told E it might be because of Froggy. Could Froggy maybe be just a little nicer? Set a little better example? Could he perhaps be less, um, devious? So Froggy apologized to P, saying he wanted to be best friends. P instantly mellowed and invited Froggy to dinner. And while he's still a bit sensitive even today, he spent the remainder of his evening talking to the bubbles in his bath and telling them how much he loved them :)

And just a note about the video. My mom mentioned she couldn't tell if P was upset at the end or not. This isn't a video from the night he was volatile - here he was begging for Froggy to smack him and laughing afterward :) It just cuts off with a weird P face - Promise!