Tuesday was a scary day. I wish I was one of those mommies who only had smiles, laughing, dress up, arts & crafts & baking to blog about…but this blog is about the reality of Mommyhood…and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shaken to my core that day. My sweet Miss A turned sour. She took tantrum to a whole new level…one that I have never seen before…and then there was blood. I’d been watching her from a safe distance as she raged in her crib for 15 minutes. I couldn’t get closer as she would grab me and try to hit, bite & scratch me if I did. I knew she didn’t bang her head. I never thought she’d draw blood from biting herself and scratching at her face. I thought wrong. After another 15 minutes Mrs. M who was with me at home Tuesday, finally got through to her with patience and a few bribes, and she calmed down. Enough to tell me she wanted to eat & then we headed straight to the pediatrician.
3 guesses what Dr. H told us. Guess 1: Ear infection? WRONG. Ears, throat, chest…all clear. Guess 2: She needs baby valium? WRONG…or right…depends on who you ask this question to! Guess 3: This is normal tantrum behavior. I do NOT believe it.
Common causes of tantrums in 2 year olds. Tired, hungry, hot, anxious, angry. I am pretty sure she was all 5.
1. Tired: Miss A wakes up in the middle of the night, I’m pretty sure every night. I don’t know what is waking her up, but I can’t seem to figure it out or prevent it. I’m trying to make it easier for her to fall back asleep by putting the aquarium music box back into her crib. But when I wake up in the middle of the night, and that music is on, I know she’s been up & not sleeping soundly through the night…even if she’s not waking me up complaining.
2. Hungry: She is a wonderful eater. She isn’t very picky and usually will eat what I make her, but there are always days where she just doesn’t want to eat. Tuesday…she wasn’t really eating. I’m pretty sure she was hungry.
3. Hot: It was about 5000 degrees out that day. At camp they played with water squirters and they were as cool as possible, but she was definitely hot.
4. Anxious: Separation Anxiety was in full force. She was crying like a lunatic when I dropped her off…but she has the BEST time at camp. They take candid photos and post them to their website so parents can take a peek into their day…A is always the star of the photos with laughs and big smiles. I know she’s having fun. When I pick her up…she starts with a happy Mommy smile…then it turns to crying…Doc says…it’s about…#5
5. Anger: She said something that I had never thought of. I’m dropping her off, even after she’s telling me she doesn’t want to separate from me. Even though she’s having a great time, when she sees me at the end of the 2.5 hours, she remembers that I left her and is now angry! This anger thing makes sense more and more because the other tantrums are happening when I’m asking her to do something she doesn’t want to do…but she doesn’t know how to tell me she’s angry. So she freaks out.
Doctors orders are to hold her so she’s not hitting me, and the only problem with that is…then she tries to bite me! So I’ve been just staying away from her and speaking calmly to her and letting her know I’m there for her, I love her and it is ok to cry but she can’t hit or bite me…It is the hardest thing ever to do since I have little patience. But yesterday…it sort of worked! Granted, it was not a camp day, and today is the real test as she goes back to camp this morning, but I’m going to remember yesterday as a huge success…we had 1 short, slightly violent tantrum and 1 pretty long but non-violent crying tantrum! That is a big difference from Tuesday! She’s 2….she’s going to have tantrums, I just have to let her get through it safely!
Has anyone else had tantrums with violence?!?!?!
I hope my baby girl is still here today! I’ll be sure to take lots more pictures of us while she’s in happy moods like this!
I’m planning to pick up Miss A from camp today with ice cream & cookies & cupcakes & stickers & jewelry & toys and anything else she loves so that she is so happy that she forgets how mad she is at me for leaving her! I’m sure that’s against all rules in any parenting book, but I don’t care!
Update…this Mommy might jump off a bridge today….we’ll just say that today isn’t going well & it is not even 9am. No camp today…
LK squared's Blog 