It all started with a pencil.
A very nice pencil (Roz, it's the one you gave me) but a pencil nonetheless.
Kendra always wakes up earlier than Connor so D and I have plenty of one-on-one time with her.
On Saturday afternoon she was sitting on my lap while I was responding to emails, "drawing" (scribbling in my notebook) with The Pencil.
Eventually she got bored with the drawing and went to see what D was up to in our bedroom. I told her to bring the pencil back but she refused.
I then went to our bedroom and decided to read with Kendra on the bed. She sat paging through a magazine (I actually love magazines because there are so many things for them to identify) while I got stuck into my book.
An aside - the weirdest thing happened yesterday. The last book I read was an Adriana Trigiani (my first) and then in the current book I'm reading, the character was also reading an Adriana Trigiani. Freaky.
She was clutching the red pencil all the time and then started nibbling on the eraser on the top. I told her, "no" and she ignored me so when she did it again, I took the pencil and said, "no, Kendra".
Well.
You should have heard the wailing. She cried so hard that eventually she was hiccupping (you know the cry?).
Of course I don't budge with these things so the pencil stayed out of her reach and I went back to reading my book.
D comes rushing in from wherever to see what was the matter.
Oh, I just said, "no" to Kendra.
That's the one thing.
Then the next morning I'm in the shower and Kendra's on our bed again.
D was getting dressed and his wallet was on the bed.
She starts taking all his cards out of his wallet.
He said, "no, Kendra" to her and she starts the wailing again.
My word!
With the hiccups and everything.
Good thing I was in the shower because I was laughing so hard at my little drama queen.
I hope this is not a regular thing because life is about to get noisy!
What do you do when they get irrational like this? How do you respond?
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Bad news sweetie - it is about to get more. Some kids start those 2 year tantrums early - in fact most girls do. But you laughing at it is exactly what you should do.
ReplyDeleteYou laughing at it made me smile :)
ReplyDeleteI usually do what they do - throw a tantrum myself and that usually stopped mine from throwing them :)
We also started having these, and my boy is not even 18 months yet (well, just about 18 months now)... Mmmmm Blackhuff, I may need to give your strategy I try at some point!
ReplyDeleteOh, ha ha ha...I have no advice, but my gracious, we are dealing with some DRAMA from A lately! It's like someone told her about the "terrible twos" and flipped a switch on my sweet girl! It's making me crazy.
ReplyDeleteLOL! To little ones this age...the word no hurts...didn't you know;-D
ReplyDeleteEish. It might get rough. I just walk away. And I tell him that I am happy that he wants to express his feelings but I prefer that he does it in his room. And then he nogal goes to his room and cries his little heart out!
ReplyDeleteI try to redirect... get them interested in something else. Or I wail (pretend) along with them. Usually confuses them and they stop and we all laugh.
ReplyDeleteOh mama, you have your work cut out for you! I feel for you!
ReplyDeleteHey M, shame poor k.... but C is doing the same thing he is throwing such tantrums I want to run a mile. You can take nothing away from him without a screaming match. It use to break my heart and I would give in but Brad shouted and said he knows he can play on my heart I better stop...sob....sob Love Robz
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit of a fine line in my book...I don't want my kiddos to feel like I'm not hearing their voices, but I WILL NOT encourage drama for the sake of drama.
ReplyDeleteIf someone has a "reason" to be crying...hurt, tired, sick, etc., I will comfort them with all my being...that's my job as a mommy.
If someone is crying because they don't get their way, I will try to help them verbalize their feelings. "I understand you want the pencil, but you can't play with it because it's not safe." I try to be a little sympathetic to their wants, but matter-of-fact about Mommy having the final say.
KNOCK ON WOOD, our girls usually don't cry for long. I HOPE they long ago realized that it doesn't get them anywhere with me.
So much easier said than done, though!!!
If you ignore it and don't "buy in," it will go away quicker than ever.
ReplyDeleteI also kneel down, in their little sobbing faces, and say, "I will not speak to you when you're this upset. We'll chat when you calm down" and walk away.
Ah this is Kiara (may be a K name thing :))
ReplyDeleteShe is nearly 7 and still refuses to accept no!!
How do I deal with it? Very badly :-/ It differs from day to day - some days distracting work, some days I let her cry it out, some days I run screaming and lock myself in the loo