Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Dr. Jekyl and Miss M: The Never Ending Teething Story or The Terrible Twos?

Throughout my upbringing my mom would tell me about the "fits" I used to have a toddler. They got so bad sometimes that I would hold my breath and my face would turn bright red, and once she even splashed water in my face to calm me down (really mom??). She would then feel my head and look for my "horns" as I was turning into the devil...always nice to hear about yourself! Constantly my mom would say to me "I hope you have one just like you someday!" While I don't think I am at the "feeling for horns" part of M's life right now, I do see signs of of the terrible twos popping up here and there. Or do I? Could this behavior be blamed on the never ending teething?? Oppressive heat? Going away every weekend and sleeping in strange places? Or our weird nap schedule as of late?

All of the sudden my sweet baby girl has an attitude. If she doesn't get what she wants, when she wants it, there will immediately be a VERY high pitched scream, followed by some fake crying. Most of the time this happens when she wants to watch Toy Story on either the iPad of the TV (see my previous post about our obsession with WOOOODDDDDYYYYY). I refuse to have my child sit in front of a screen all day so when I say "No Woody" the screams begin and out comes the 'tude.

Or if we are coloring and she doesn't want to color anymore and asks to "wok?" (which means walk) and I say "no we are coloring right now" she will throw a crayon. Most of the time at me. This I have no patience for, but how do I reason with a 19 month old?

If she wants to go outside but I need to put her shoes on, or she will burn her feet on the deck, and it takes 10 seconds more, there is screaming involved. When we get outside, she will whine and say "inside!" when we get inside she will whine and walk to the front door and say "outside!" I cannot win with this little one.

If she is done with her food, she wants it immediately removed from her tray, or she will start the whining and throw it on the floor. If it isn't what she wants (who the hell knows what she wants?!) she will do the same thing.

If I give in and let her sit and watch Wuuuddy she will look up at me with her giant blue eyes and say "Hi Mama!" with this big grin on her face, or lean over and rest her head on my arm, or put her arm on my leg and lean into me - and I melt! I am such a sucker for this little girl!!

If we are around friends she is a sweetheart. If we are around strangers, out shopping or in the park - you can guarantee that she will start the whining and fake crying about something.

90% of the day she is a little angel, but this new 10% of jerkdom is driving me crazy. I don't have the patience for the screaming and whining and fake crying to get her way so most of the time I just say "stop screaming" or "stop the madness M!" and try to distract her with something else. Is this what I should be doing?

I used to blame all of this behavior on teething, which for the last week has been in full affect. She is getting her eye teeth in right now and they seem to be causing more pain than any of her other teeth (including her molars) as she is constantly chewing on anything and everything. Could this fussiness be blamed on teething?

Her nap schedule has been all out of whack lately too. When we go away she will take two naps because we are constantly on the go and she is exhausted. When we get home I do my best to get her to sleep just once during the day, but with her wake up time being anywhere from 5 to 5:30 AM it is hard to get her to stay awake past 10 AM. Sometimes that is unavoidable, and those days usually result in Mama having a drink right after M is in bed that night.

I know the terrible twos can start as early as 15 months, and if this behavior is a sign of that, I am totally fine with it, as like I said for the most part she is wonderful. But if this drama will be cropping up more often in the near future, I will seriously need to call in the reserves...which means the pooch will be watching her while I go out for a pedicure...kidding of course...maybe.


  1. Mama J, I think we are living parallel lives. I am planning to write a post this week about how the whining in my house is driving me up a wall also.

    About M, I think the reason the terrible twos are so terrible is that the kids don't differentiate between good and bad attention. M is probably doing this for your reaction. Of course, I don't know what to tell you to do about it - obviously you can't just ignore her and allow her to throw her crayons around. But if you could try to react less, or at least do your best to pretend to be disinterested while enforcing the rules, it may help.

  2. Poor Mama J. Just remember that it is indeed a phase. I think it is because she is realizing that she can "articulate" her wants and needs, but doesn't understand that there is a lag time, so she gets frustrated. Don't worry, this will pass and then you can have other phases to enjoy. Tip: If it is all too much for you, follow the sage advice as noted in Magic 1,2,3 - give yourself a little time out!