She has been moody, irritating, irrational and just plain grumpy. OK I know she is a toddler, but feel a bit of split personality at the moment.
I am finding it really hard to control my frustration when things get out of hand, and only for some great advice from my mums group, not sure how I would have got through it.
It’s starting with some bad behaviour, not doing what she is told and then subsequently lashing out, either with kicks, screams or both. I had one particular bad instance when I picked her up in creche this week and she decided to run off into a main road. She is so fast now, I struggled to keep up with her and my heart was pounding by the time I got to her.
As my other half tells me my inner mama bear kicked in and I just needed to protect her! By the time we got back to the car, I thought all the drama was over, but then she refused to get into the car seat. A massive struggle ensued and of course I was terrified she would run off again. I ended up shouting really loudly to get her attention and when she still kicked and screamed and stayed in the footwell of the car, I told her mama would drive and we would crash because she wasn’t in her seat. She finally succumbed but was really upset.
We didn’t talk the whole way home, which is normally such a lovely chatty journey. By the time we got home I spoke to her in the car before letting her out. I explained how dangerous it is to run away from me and mama was trying to help her. She said sorry (although these leave a lot to be desired) and we had a hug to make up. It didn’t remove my guilt from shouting but at least she was safe.
Some of the mums explained to be my adrenaline would have shot up when I had to chase her so it would have been hard for me to calmly put her in the carseat. Since then when she is pushing my buttons I try count to 5 and take a deep breath before tackling the situation. It is not easy keeping calm but I’m slowly getting better!
She is normally such a happy little girl so to see her switch so quickly can be difficult to deal with. But myself and hubby are working together to establish boundaries and let her know right from wrong.
