Monday, March 26, 2012

toddler-tude

I gotta admit; I used to hate the term "terrible twos".

I mean seriously, what a horrible term for these sweet, sweet toddlers.

Then I got an up close view of those said terrible twos, and you know? if the shoe fits....
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Baby Girl will be two next week and holy wow y'all, the tantrums? out of control.

When she has them.

Now I might jinx myself, but eight times out of ten, we can avoid her tantrums or at least keep them semi mild. Those other two times? well the devil gets in her at those times and we basically just have to hang on and try to survive.

Kidding. Sort of.

What I mean by "avoid" is, I know, if she's tired, I can't push her. If I do, she melts down (a la the middle of Macy's episode). If it's bed time, it's bed time. Not time to try and make one more stop.
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When BG was a teeny, tiny babe (sigh...), her "witching hour" was around dinnertime. And y'all, history is definitely repeating itself.

As of lately, dinnertime is our biggest issue. She doesn't want to be in her chair, or doesn't want to eat, or doesn't want to basically do anything we want her to do. Fun right?

The other night (keep in mind we know about this witching hour), her Dad and I didn't feel like cooking so we went out for Mexican. You can guess what happened.

BG didn't want to be in her chair first of all. She wanted to sit with on her Daddy. She didn't want milk, she wanted juice. Then she put a chip in the hot salsa and that was all she wrote.
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She was done. A trip to the bathroom for a "talking to" and a trip outside for a spanking were all for naught, the girl was done. So we took our food to go and ate at home where she was perfectly content to sit in her chair and drink her milk.

Oh toddlerhood...

But.. sort of our fault right? We knew dinner time was a sketch time. It isn't always and I don't think it will be for long, but right now, it is.

Figuring our what sets her off, and trying to avoid it, helps us a lot. Getting down to her level and calmly talking to her also helps. Ignoring her doesn't seem to help right now, neither does time out. We're figuring it out though. We're figuring her out.
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I got to be honest, other than the newborn days (still hands down WORST ever), this is about the toughest thing we've dealt with with her. While all my tips above do work occasionally, there are times when not a thing helps. When she just wants to scream or cry or kick and we don't get it. When nothing makes her happy. When everything makes her mad.

I guess that's the "terrible" part. She's not terrible, not at all. But how she acts is and how helpless it makes us feel is.
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But like I said, we're figuring her out. Slowly.

The good (bad?) thing is, she's not even two yet. So it seems we'll have plenty of time to experience and figure this issue out. Yay toddler-tude!
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11 comments:

Unknown said...

There have been a few times Skip and I have had to leave a restaurant because one or both the girls is losing it. For the most part now the only place we can bring the girls for dinnr is the food court at the mall. Totally unromantic but it's the only way we can get out around that time!

Mrs. Dirnberger said...

I just happened to come across your blog and your beautiful family. Anyways I was reading sicknessa post about baby girl...and how the tubes keep draining. You may have already tried this or TRIED everything, but this happened to MY son a lot too. I thought tubes would work miracles and they didnt' at first. BUT when I changed him to SOY milk, (silk) the tubes worked miracles. Just a thought :) he had a milk protein allergy. NOT everything dairy just milk...

Tiff said...

I love that sweet girl! Her patchwork dress is beyond cute!

I always say when we go out to eat we are playing Russian roulette with our dinner!

I never know which T I am going to get.

Ashley said...

I'm sorry, toddler-tude or not, that girl is CUTE!!! : ) I just love her. And don't worry, I'm sure I will be contacting you in a few months when David starts up with that junk. I can see it coming already!

Lindsey said...

Oh mama I feel your pain!!! This age is a rough one! But you're doing a great job and she is a beautiful and loving little girl because of you!!! PS these pics are too cute!!

In This Wonderful Life said...

I just can't imagine that precious little dumpling throwing any tantrums! Oh, she is just so cute.

WHAT am I going to do in the two's...x2!?

Lucy Marie said...

Oh girlfriend. GIRLFRIEND. I don't know who the hell invented the term terrible twos because I am pretty sure they meant terrible 18 months. :) It's HARD, yo.

Unknown said...

Oh girl, toddlers are hard. Like really hard.

Melissa @ I Pick Pretty said...

Man, are we ever there with the tantrums. And, for us, the nap strike. It's trying, and I often find myself saying that same thing - "At least this isn't as miserable as our newborn days".

Also, LOVE that madras patchwork dress. Please consider yourself official wardrobe consultant to my future imaginary daughter.

Amber said...

We are just beginning the terrible twos a little early but wow they are rough!

lg2006 said...

Whew girl I feel ya! my boy and his tantrums are leaving me speechless! I am about to blog about that myself!

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