Colin worked this weekend so Lily and I had a lot of time together. I planned a fun weekend, starting with going to the library Saturday morning to visit daddy, the fish, the toys at the library and of course to get more books. Lily LOVED it, spotting daddy when we got there and running over to him yelling "daddy!" We played, we read, we saw the fish, we even played on the computer. When it was time to go this little darling of mine threw the biggest temper tantrum I have seen. YELLING " NO" and throwing herself to the ground, kicking her boots off every time I put them on and slamming her head into the ground. All in the center of the library, right in front of all of Colin's employees. I knew that if I could get her outside she would be ok with my decision to leave so I grabbed her, the bag, the books, the boots, our hats, gloves, the jackets and my ever, loving, precious daughter- screaming, back arching and kicking. We went into the entry way where now everyone entering the library could view this little spectacle that I know is soon to become my future. So in the entry I try and reason with her, of course she is still screaming so I pack everything up while she continues her temper tantrum and now instead of banging her head on the floor of the library she is banging her head on the metal grates you walk across when entering. So now she is crying, not only because she does not want to leave but because her head hurts. So for the last time I place her boots on, she kicks them off (it is 0 degrees out otherwise I would not have cared about all of the extra paraphernalia). I finally get her coat on just as a nice bum walks through the door and sees my poor little girl screaming her brains out. He so generously offers to help me, talking about how pretty her pants are, how nice it is outside, there is no reason to be crying (yah thanks buddy, super helpful, now you are just talking loudly over my screaming daughter and the smell of alcohol pouring from your skin is not helping). So I manage to get her coat on and pick up all of the stuff and pick Lily up before she takes her coat off. We walk outside in the 0 degree weather, no hat, no gloves, no shoes and she stops crying. I then carry her 1/2 mile the entire time trying to tell her why we need to put her shoes, hats and gloves on and all she says is "dada ahk." So that was the start of our nice mother daughter weekend together.
The other rarely large temper tantrum we had was while I was trying to cook dinner. I put both of our aprons on to make dinner (thanks Marie and Poppie for the great apron for Lily, she was so excited to put one on after I put mine on.) She pulled her chair up to the counter to help me and I offered to get her a bigger chair. We were having a nice time chopping veggies until I turned for 1 second and she picked up the plate sitting next to her and threw it as hard as she could into the sink. The plate shattered everywhere, she knew she was in trouble and I immediately removed her from the chair and told her how we did not throw and she could not be on the chair if she was going to throw. She took it pretty well and then eventually asked to get back up on the chair, I like an idiot, first time mother said sure but no throwing (with much more of a firm mommy tone and a few more warnings.) So Lily gets on the chair picks up her silverware and throws it as hard as she can in the sink. So I guess the independence starts here.......
We did have a lot of very nice moments, like the one above where she decided to read to Chevy in the rocking chair for 20 minutes, seriously Chevy stayed there for most if it.
Well I loaded these pictures backwards but you get the idea. She has started to use all of her tools around her to get exactly what she wants....here she is dancing on the bed after discovering exactly how to get up there.
So proud!
"I just need to crawl across this space and I am home free."
As you can see, she first tried to use the tub of play dough toys to stand on, I seriously caught her on her tippy toes, with the play dough bin about to tumble. She then discovered her chair...this worked much better.
Keep breathing, dear Julie.....those times are hard, and yet as you share them...we can look back with true understanding of similar moments of our own. She truly is acting on her independence which is creative....a la getting on to the bed. Wow....such a smartie pants, that girl:)
ReplyDeleteFun to see her in her own little apron too!
ReplyDeleteAlex did that once at Target...it was quite embarrassing. Turns out I had seriously miscalculated how tired/hungry/overstimulated he was from being at the gym first. Suffice it to say, I keep food with me, visits shorter (sometimes) and look for signs of future meltdowns and then skedaddle. We also talked about it at our evening "talk of the day" before bedtime, how hard that was, and that he wouldn't be going to the store again until he could behave better. He remembered that conversation! We also talk about behaving and how we'll know it's time to leave before we get somewhere and that seems to prep him as well. Live and Learn!
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