Jacob in transition

I may have to write a novel with that title. Jacob's father tells me earnestly that the child is in a real period of transition. My diagnosis is that he never went through the terrible twos, so now he's doing it at 3 years, 3 mos. For the past two nights, he has climbed out of his crib (well, I've been saying he should be in a bed) and trashed his room; one night he threw a full-fledged tantrum. I asked about something hurting him, bad dream, and Jordan said no, it was a pure tantrum. So tonight he sleeps in a big boy bed--a mattress on the floor. I was keeping him tonight and Jordan arrived with sweeping orders about how we'd have to rearrange the guest room, move the table (I have no place else to put it), etc. So Friday they're coming to do all that, and we'll put the mattress from the trundle bed in the guest room against one wall. But I had a good taste of Jacob's transition tonight--when they left he screamed and clung to them, would not be held back. They finally made it out the door, and I would venture Jacob screamed for the next twenty minutes (I want my mommy, I want my daddy, I want my Addie--a friend who was with them). I pretty much ignored him. Trying to quiet him, his mom had given him a lollipop and when he finished he sweetly handed the stick to me. Then he announced he wanted another lollipop. I told him I didn't have any, and we were about to eat dinner. If he ate a good dinner (which he didn't) he could have ice cream (which he didn't get). Then he began to scream all over again, and I once again went about the business of fixing supper and ignoring him. He didn't want his supper, but finally came to the table, looked at some squash I'd sauteed and anounced it was yucky. I think he ate one bite of chicken loaf and a few blueberries, but his disposition was better. Throughout the evening, however, he reminded me that he loved his mommy, his daddy, and his Addie but not me. Of course by the time he left I got a sweet hug and kiss and when he was in the car, we had an "I love you!" contest--he considers it a challenge to see who can yell it the loudest. When he left, I felt like I'd been through a tornado, and I'm not nearly as excited about keeping him Saturday as I usually am. This too will pass.
Otherwise the day had one hight point--a lovely lunch on the patio at Ellerbe with my friend, Fred--and one low point--a long dental cleaning appointment. The hygeniest said I had bad staining; I protested I drink one cup of coffee a day and no tea. Suddenly she asked, "Do you eat blueberries!" and I had to confess that I eat a lot of them. So there's the culprit. But as Fred said, he's not giving up blueberries to prevent staining his teeth--me neither.
One good aspect of Jacob's visit was that he finally settled down to watch TV, so I could read Wormwood, the Susan Wittig Albert novel I've been trying to read for days but only fitting in bits and pieces. That's how I'm going to spend the rest of my evening.