4 flavours of tantrums

Within the space of 24 hours, I have experienced the thrill of 4 tantrums from 4 different kids.

The passive-aggressive tantrum (5pm)
Cause: "Hey your room is really messy, can you pick up all the scrap paper bits from the floor and give the shelves and table a wipe down with a cloth?" That was my reasonable request.

First EggEgg appeared to agree and proceed to cleaning up the place. As soon as I leave the room, I could hear foot stomping, heavy breathing, loud grunting sounds. How disturbing!
"Why? Are you having a tantrum?"
"No. Yes. I mean, I am ok to continue to do the clean up, but I just can't stop making that sound. I feel better when I make that sound."

The yell-the-house-down tantrum (8am)
Cause: "Don't lick on your knife! That's very dangerous, and disgusting too, when you dip it back into the jam jar." Tonton checked Cola just in time.

Cola mumbled something about "haven't licked the knife yet."  A denial which quickly increased in intensity. A crescendo playing to a full fortissimo in 4 bars.  He was banished to a corner of the garage to calm down, yet I can still hear him screaming on top of his lungs through the garage door, through the stairs, all the way into the kitchen.

The no-reason-required tantrum (6pm)
Cause: Unknown

Baby Ladder just started crying for no reason. Not happy going out to garden. Not happy going into the shower. Not happy anywhere.
And when he is sad, he wanders around the house, searches for a piece of my clothing, be it my jacket, my pyjamas, or my tshirt. and starts to suck on it. My clothes, my scent soothes him. The pitiful thing.

Sometimes I find him all quiet, in a corner of the mattress, with my tshirt all soggy in his mouth. (I really miss breastfeeding him.  We had to wean so early, at merely 5 months old when he was diagnosed with multiple food allergies.)

The sudden-deafness tantrum (9pm)
Cause: "Just now Bobo uses my woollen top to wipe on the bathroom floor! See? There's all this black marks on my woollen top now."  EggEgg showed me the evidence.

Bobo knew he is in trouble but made no acknowledgement on his face. He continue to put up his innocent face.  "Did you do it?"  He merely blinked.  "Why did you do it?" No response.  "This is not the first time you use our clothes to mop the bathroom floor! That's gross!"  No response.

Bobo has been lately using this sudden deafness tactic whenever he gets into trouble, and thinks he could get pardoned. But not tonight. Not after I had the complete tantrum works these past 24 hours.

So he's wiping down my entire kitchen floor before he is allowed to go to bed. I hope he learns a lesson.