moodiness

She hit two years old and all of a sudden she became a moody female (seen here, a picture of modesty, trying to take off her socks because it's one of her favorite things to do: take them off when Mommy just put them on, the little stinker!).

The day after her birthday she fussed and cried for no reason. Not at all like her. I thought, "No way, she just turned two. How does she know she's now in the supposed, "terrible two" stage?" (In a young mother's Bible study I was in soon after she was born I learned not to call them that, because there are plenty of happy times during the twos, too, and I shouldn't label them, but sheesh, did she really change that much over night?) The following day she was completely back to normal, my almost always happy girl.

Most days since then she has been that way.

But then we have days like today. Mommy pinched her thumb in the cart while at Target this morning. She screamed and carried on for a good 5 minutes. I felt terrible, because she normally doesn't cry at all if she gets hurt unless it's really, really bad. My husband just said last night, "I wonder sometimes if she's capable of feeling pain," because she really doesn't cry much when she gets hurt. So then the finger pinch this morning, and OH MY GOODNESS--you would've thought I'd broken her thumb. So I felt just awful, knowing I had caused so much pain that she was screaming and carrying on so (in the middle of checkout line at Target, no less--I'm sure I get the award for Target's worst Mom of the day). But then she saw something that caught her attention and she immediately stopped crying and started talking about it. So I knew she was okay. Whew, I felt much better. So I put her back in the cart to walk out to the car and she started in with her crying again. It was then I knew that she was practicing her drama queen act. I didn't know she was capable of it until I saw it for myself, because she's never tried it before. So I ignored her. It's not a behavior I wish to encourage, so I wasn't going to give her attention for it. I put her in her car seat, got in the car, and left the store. She eventually stopped.

However, I wasn't heading home. I had other errands to run, so instead of turning out of Target in the direction of our house, I turned the opposite way. OH MY GOODNESS, once again, you would've thought the world was coming to an end, because she immediately started screaming even louder. She knew we turned the other way, and she didn't like it one bit. "House....house....house!" she kept yelling in between screams. (Smart girl, huh? Already has her daddy's keen sense of direction!) Again, I ignored her. I kept on toward my destination, but really didn't want to go anywhere else with a screaming toddler, so I started rethinking my plan. Should I add to my frustration by taking her into a public place in this mood, or should I give in to what she wants and go home (where I could deal with her attitude privately)? I decided I'd better go home. But because we had already turned away from home, we had to go home the long way. Gave her more time to be mad. That was a fun ride.

By the time we got home she had stopped crying and was on to something else (I think it was pointing to a UPS truck, which, incidentally, she calls, "moun tuck"--brown truck).

Several other times in the next hour or so I experienced more drama for no real reason. I know it's just a phase and she could very well wake up from her nap this afternoon full of smiles and cheer (please, oh please, let it be so!). She could also very well wake up grumpy and full of more drama, so I have to prepare myself.... Ugh. I want my sweet daughter back, please.

P.S. In case you were wondering, whatever bug caused so much trouble the other night passed through her quickly, and she's back to normal now, so at least I know that's not the reason for her moods.