This past Labor Day was a stressful one for me.
My daughter has decided all of a sudden to cry for everything and anything.
She cries when I leave her.
She cries when she doesn't get her way.
She cries when she can't express herself.
She cries just to cry.
She either can't always express her needs and frustrations and feelings or just decides crying is her only means of communication.
I know. I know. Welcome to the toddler years.
I get it.
I've read the books.
Still, there is nothing like a crying child with absolutely no reason for the crying fit to make you feel like the worst mom ever.
You second guess your decisions.
You go through your list of what could be the issue (hunger, tired, diaper, etc).
Then you go through the horrible, maybe if I didn't do this when she was an infant questioning period.
This period is only made worse when a spouse or family member says something completely unhelpful like, "Well you wanted to attachment parent. This is what you get." or "If she wasn't so attached to you and your breasts, she wouldn't be like this."
So today, my daughter fell off the dining room chair. Not her high chair but a standard chair. I saw her fall and it was in the midst of a tantrum. She wasn't hurt. I knew that. Still, I didn't rush to her and let her cry it out. I knew the crying wasn't because of pain. My kid has fallen off higher objects at the playground, dusted herself off and just let it be. Heck, this very morning, she was pushed rather hard to the ground by her friend and instead of crying. She gave him a mafia death look and sat there for 2 minutes trying to figure out what to do next. As her friend was placed into time out. She got up and walked over to where he was in time out and asked if he was ok.
So my kid has empathy. I'm proud of that but clearly she has empathy for her playmates and not her mommy. If she did, she'd know that a holiday weekend packed with nonstop hip to hip bonding was just too much for me. At one point, she wouldn't stop conversing with me while I was on the toilet. "TG, mommy is on the potty. I'll be out soon.""Mommy on the potty?""Yes""Poopie in the potty.""Yes.""Let me see.""No""Daddy poopy in the potty?""Later""Ok."{silence}{knock on door}"Who is it mommy?""TG is that you knocking?""mhmm. Go bye bye?""Not yet.""I see go bye bye.""When you potty, TG."
The hardest part about this is right now, I know it's me she wants for everything and as tiring and exhausting as that may be, I need to savor it. One day soon, she's going to want Daddy for everything.
