Well, her birthday WAS supposed to be the 10th...
We had our very first full-blown public tantrum today.
It was everything I had dreaded, screaming, kicking, crying, a complete and total fit.
Fortunately, we were near the Spider Monkeys at the Zoo, so nobody noticed that much.
After about a minute of trying to figure out what she was freaking out about (I seriously have no idea.. one minute she was sitting there looking at the monkeys, the next minute, she flips!) I made a Mommy Decision and we left the Zoo. (She was in her stroller, thank goodness, or I don't think we would've made it out alive.)
When she realized where we were going, she started really crying and saying "No! No! NOOO! More Zoo, please! More Zoo please Mommy! Mommy please! Please! No! NO! More Zoo!" etc. once we were in the parking lot, I stopped and told her that I love her and I'm not trying to be mean to her, but little girls who don't behave don't get to do fun things.
This set off another round of "Okay, Mommy! I good! Please! More Zoo!!" in full-on tantrum mode. At this point, I realize that trying to rationalize with a nearly-two-year-old was a fool's errand, and continued on to the car.
Putting her in her car seat, she's still struggling and screaming, and I buckle her in, give her a kiss, and tell her that I love her. Then I ask, "Should we go get lunch?" This, apparently is NOT what she was expecting and she just kind of stared at me for a minute... "NOOO! NOOO ZOOOOOOO!"
Needless to say, we continued on out of the parking lot and off into the sunset (well, off into the drive-thru line.. because we get McDonald's after the Zoo. It's almost like a toddler holiday, really...) And she is now quite contentedly playing with her toy, munching on an apple dipper, and babbling to herself.
Toddlers are so freaking weird. I guess they're kind of like teenagers, except you can't hate them quite as much. ;)
It was everything I had dreaded, screaming, kicking, crying, a complete and total fit.
Fortunately, we were near the Spider Monkeys at the Zoo, so nobody noticed that much.
After about a minute of trying to figure out what she was freaking out about (I seriously have no idea.. one minute she was sitting there looking at the monkeys, the next minute, she flips!) I made a Mommy Decision and we left the Zoo. (She was in her stroller, thank goodness, or I don't think we would've made it out alive.)
When she realized where we were going, she started really crying and saying "No! No! NOOO! More Zoo, please! More Zoo please Mommy! Mommy please! Please! No! NO! More Zoo!" etc. once we were in the parking lot, I stopped and told her that I love her and I'm not trying to be mean to her, but little girls who don't behave don't get to do fun things.
This set off another round of "Okay, Mommy! I good! Please! More Zoo!!" in full-on tantrum mode. At this point, I realize that trying to rationalize with a nearly-two-year-old was a fool's errand, and continued on to the car.
Putting her in her car seat, she's still struggling and screaming, and I buckle her in, give her a kiss, and tell her that I love her. Then I ask, "Should we go get lunch?" This, apparently is NOT what she was expecting and she just kind of stared at me for a minute... "NOOO! NOOO ZOOOOOOO!"
Needless to say, we continued on out of the parking lot and off into the sunset (well, off into the drive-thru line.. because we get McDonald's after the Zoo. It's almost like a toddler holiday, really...) And she is now quite contentedly playing with her toy, munching on an apple dipper, and babbling to herself.
Toddlers are so freaking weird. I guess they're kind of like teenagers, except you can't hate them quite as much. ;)