Then all of a sudden she got it in her mind that she was going to take a bath, and when I told her no it was not bath time….. Mayday Mayday take cover…she threw one of the worst fits yet. She has started to try to hit me some during some of the previous fits, but today it was biting, hitting, and pinching. Let me just stop right there and say this is pretty tough…
If any of my kiddos at home would have done that, they would have gotten in major trouble right then and there. But there is a big communication problem here. It is really hard to find the balance of the right discipline, because I can’t talk to her about why I am disciplining her. I can’t leave her, because I don’t want her to feel abandoned and ultimately she really wants me there. So when she tries to physically hurt me, I separate her from me, but only about an arms length distance. Just far enough that she can not reach me, but close enough for her to know I am there.
I tell her she needs to tell me she is sorry. And, I have learned the way Indians say they are sorry is by grabbing both ear lobes. I have also seen her say she is sorry in this way a few times. So, I do that motion and tell her she has tell me she is sorry. She knows exactly what I am telling her to do, because she then proceeds to ignore me. Then she will hold up one finger and bless me out in Gujarati. Honestly when she does that, I almost laugh. It is hilarious to me… she looks like this little adult trying to scold me. Of course, I don’t let her know how funny it is. I look at her and give her a stern NO! Then she erupts into more screaming, more crying, and more drooling. I have never seen a child drool so much when they cry! She does it no matter how hard the cry. This also is starting to crack me up.
It was also getting close to lunch time, so I told her if she would calm down we could go eat. She would get quiet and walk to the door but the moment I opened the door she would burst into tears and run to my friend looking to be picked up. Thankfully my friend knew how to handle it and told her she needed to go to her mama. Then she would cray more and come back in the room and tell me off some more.
Trust me I am exhausted just writing about it and it pretty taxing to go through. After about 45 minutes of the tantrum she smiled grabbed her ears and verbally said sorry. Then I erupted into cheers and scooped her up telling her how much I love to hold and hug her.
We had lunch, she took a long nap, and then we headed to a park.
I have written before how unstable she is in her walking and she is even more unstable outside, and insecure. Even when we are inside she begs to be held… But when we are outside it is even worse. I deliberately make her walk so she can practice and get more stable, but she fights me on it with some whining.
On our walk to the park, which is maybe 100 yards away if that… I made her walk half way, and then I carried her or we would have never gotten there before dark! 🙂
I thought she might relax in the park…it is very lush and green. Nope! She is really tense and unsure of everything. We tried the swing first and she did not like it at all. She screamed and motioned to get down. Then we tried a seesaw…keep in mind I am standing right beside her holding her…. She screams even worse! Finally my friend suggested sitting on the swing and holding in my lap to give her security and she loved it! Yay! Something at the park we can do!
She loved it so much she got brave and tried to hop on one of the kids bikes, but once she got on she wanted off! Then she walked over to the swing and I asked her if she could do it by herself, and she nodded yes. And she did it. She sat on it, with a death grip, and did not swing. But that was a huge step for her! I am so proud of my baby girl…. She is on the “upswing!”
