the witching hour

There is that time of day, the late afternoon, around dinner time, when kids get cranky.   My mom calls this the "witching hour."   K and JJ get cranky and then some at times.  They are tired and hungry, and don't want to wait for dinner.  This is the same time of day that "Sundowning" sets in with the dementia residents.  Maybe they too are tired and hungry.  Maybe being tired and hungry makes the elderly dementia resident's confusing level increase....  but I know its not that simple.
Often when they are tired, the boys hit melt down mode.  And you never know what will set them off into a complete frenzy.  There are times when I just have to take a step back and laugh.  (of course never in front of the boys as they are crying!)  My favorite tantrum was when K was younger, and he was hungry.  I gave him a piece of bread, he threw it on the floor, and proceeded to throw himself on the floor just far enough away that the bread was out of his reach.  He was laying on his stomach on the floor crying "Mommy, I can't reach it!"  over and over.  It was like he was in a desert crawling to the oasis and couldn't just make the last few inches.  These are usually the times I have to either walk away or put K upstairs in his room to calm down.  Usually if we ignore him, he will get over it and switch gears back to normal in a few minutes, like nothing happened. 
JJ is just starting to show more of his temper and to throw a few tantrums.    So far any tantrum he has had  have been very short and his is easy to distract.  But... he certainly has a bad temper at times.  He is much calmer overall than his big brother, so it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next few years as he finds his way, and strives for independence!