Out of the Mouths of Babes

I babysat R tonight. She enthusiastically greeted me and kept screaming "Boo!" I asked her if she got to dress up yesterday, and she said, "Yeah! Ghost! Candy! Boo!!!" Her mother, chuckling, informed me that she was not a ghost, but a princess. I'm sure I'll have photos emailed to me in a day or two.

Later on, she was melting down with separation anxiety at bath/bedtime. She has been so good about that for at least six months...I'm not sure what's been bringing this back on the last few weeks, but she's been reverting back to her old ways of throwing tantrums and getting angry/melting down when her parents aren't there when she asks about them a few hours into the evening.

At any rate, this was a monster of a meltdown/tantrum, and I was determined to have her follow instructions on her own and not be 'babied.' She's old enough to understand what you're saying to her, and to be disciplined for misbehaving (time out, picking up things she threw, etc.) Earlier in the evening I had to take her by the hand and make her pick up a DVD case that she threw on the floor then proceeded to stomp on while I told her no. She kept trying the "but I'm so cute" smile when I asked her to pick it up. I finally made her do it. She contemplated throwing a fit, and even opened her mouth and screwed her face up, but made the choice not to throw that tantrum and picked up the case. I was so proud of her.

At bed/bath time, it was a blowout, throw herself on the floor, screaming louder and louder, full on temper tantrum. I actually yelled at her for the first time ever, telling her to, "get up those stairs to the bathroom right now!" when she kept disobeying me. I had told her that she had the choice of staying up another half hour until her bath/bed time by stopping her fit, or we could do it right then and she could go to bed immediately. She opted for the meltdown, so she got a quick bath with no toys and we went into the bedroom to change into jammies. She stopped screaming, reached her arms out, and melted into a hug. Then she sat back and asked, "mommy daddy not come on home?" I usually tell her that Mommy and Daddy went out, and they will be there when she wakes up, and that usually suffices. Not the last couple of weeks.

I finally told her it is like when she and mommy go to Aaden's house (a buddy of her's who lives two houses down) and leave Daddy at home. He misses them, and they come home after they are done playing with Aaden. Then I told her that Mommy and Daddy went to their buddy's house to play, and would come home after they were done. She wiped her eyes, stopped her wimpering and said, "Okay, Alison. Night-night, I love you!" and pointed at her crib. Not another peep out of her. When I told her parents that when they came home, they both went, "REALLY?!?!" I just thought it was funny.