Is he manic depressive or just 20 months old?

Middle child is going through a faze. I like to call it a faze because otherwise it would require medication. He is blissfully happy one moment. He will be laughing so hard that sometimes he will choke. And the next moment in tears. There is nothing that you can say, do or buy for him that will cure this behavior.

Now I have seen this behavior before but it is usually when he is either overly sleepy or overly tired. Of course in those situation, I just feed him or put him to bed. Nothing doing lately.

I've tried several things. I have on occasion sent him to time out so he can calm down but he just goes there and cries even more. I have put him in his bed hoping that he was just really tired and would quickly drift off to sleep and then wake an hour to three later feeling refreshed and pleasant to be around. I have tried ignoring his behavior all together. This has proved to be very difficult. It seems that he would prefer to hit himself about the head instead of stopping. I offer food or drink but they are only pushed away and then he will flail his arms in front of his body.

Today I tried a different approach. I sat down across from him, sang a quiet song. This seemed to startle him at first. He stopped crying and watched me to see what I would do. The itsy, bitsy spider didn't take long to sing so I just gently picked him up and put him in my lap. He started crying again so I started singing again. He cried through the song this time but did seem a bit calmer at least. I stopped singing and just started humming. In a few minutes I stopped humming and he stopped crying. We sat there. He eventually started to relax against me more and then we cuddled.

After a few minutes of cuddling he reached down and grabbed a few hotwheels cars. We sat there a few minutes longer and then he just stood up. He gave me a kiss and said, "Thank you." (Well really he said, "tank chew" but I'm not going to argue.) Then he just walked off and played nicely in his room.

He has been through a lot lately. It is hard to remember how hard this move has been on the kids as well as the adults. He has left everything that he knew behind. His toys and us are the only things that are the same. He shared a room with the other two. He shared a bed with Baby girl. He stayed home with Daddy and almost never had a caregiver other then one of us. Now he sleeps in a big boy bed without his sister. He shares a room with #1 son but he goes to sleep with no one else in the room. He is occasionally watched by his grandmother. Although these changes have been good, they are still changes.

He is also at a very difficult age. He wanted to do everything for himself but he is very limited on what he can actually do without assistance. He doesn't speak or at least we can't understand a majority of what he says but he very much wants to communicate specific things to us. He is learning and growing so fast.

I hope that this stage passes quickly and that I can remember to not get frustrated. I need to spend more time just with him. Cuddling and reading, playing cars and just taking walks and holding hands. A little love can go a long way.