Tuesday, December 29, 2009

A Little Drama and A Big Girl Bed

Hailey has been my stubborn child from the beginning. When she was like 2 she would rather be on time out for what seemed like hours (it really wasn't) than apologize for doing something. Not much has changed since then. Yesterday I overheard her say, "I hate my mom for putting the bed like this." When I said something she came to the defense that she meant she hates the bed being there. Probably not too horrible, but still my feelings were hurt and I explained to her that "hate" is never a good word to use and that she should probably say she was sorry. She never did and eventually after talking more with her and at least getting a few nods that it wasn't the best thing to say, I let her off the hook. She is overly emotional and I don't know what to do with her. I try really hard never to get angry with her or talk harshly. When she gets into these moods I just speak calmly to her and explain my side of the problem give her lots of hugs, and then leave her to sulk until she decides to come around. Then this morning, all of her chores were done except wiping off the table after breakfast and I told her she couldn't play until she wiped the table. Her cousins are visiting this week so of course she wanted to play. It wasn't very messy and it should have taken her 3 minutes at most (she is a pretty slow worker). I explained this to her, but it didn't really matter, she just put her hands over her ears and pretended not to hear me. While she was in her room I took this picture of her. 45 minutes later, she came out and wiped the table and went in to play with her cousins. At least today and yesterday she wasn't in a screaming fit over it all, because as many of my friends have witnessed she can get that way too. Why the DRAMA!!! Can someone please give me some suggestions to deal with this? Has anyone else had these problems? Will she eventually grow out of it? UGH!

In other news, Sunday night was Lilly's first night in a big girl bed. She took to it like a champ! She was so adorable, even after she woke up in the morning she stayed in bed until I came in to get her out. At nap time I said, "Are you ready to take a nap?" She said, "ya" and went and climbed in her bed. When she woke up she did get out this time and start playing, but she didn't get out of bed before she took her nap. Same deal with bed last night. I hope she takes as well to her little brother who should be here in about a month because she can be quite possessive, especially over mom and dad.

2 comments:

James and Tricia Thomas said...

Oh man what am I in for?... Preston is so stubborn also!! Looks like you guys had a great Christmas!!

Jamie said...

I don't have any advice for you. Sounds like you are doing everything right. I have a hard time often with my 2 year old Adam and his temper tantrums. My 6 year old nephew was the same way at age two and is still super sensitive and quick to lose it. Maybe it will take a different form as they mature I sure as heck don't know. I sometimes say that God gave me the gift of Adam to teach me patience and humility.