Girlie
Yesterday she had a pretty good morning - we spent a couple hours in the basement playing/cleaning and doing laundry, and she was happy and having fun. Then it was time to go wake Daddy, and after doing that and bouncing on the bed for a while, I tried to get her to go downstairs, and she started swinging. I feel so inadequate when she starts getting that way, like I don't know what to do or say, but I'm Mommy so I have to do something. Letting her get away with it just seems to reinforce that hitting lets her get her way, so I have to find a way to stop her doing whatever she's doing, sit her down and try to calm her down and talk about it. That usually leads to her spitting at me, since I have to hold her hands to keep her from hitting, and it just continues to spiral downward from there.
Sometimes she just needs a little snack or a nap and she's doing better, but yesterday we had 3 or 4 incidents where she just started swinging at me. Daddy seems to handle it better. His firm approach doesn't seem to work for me - she just starts swinging harder. And the more I try to analyze my approach to try to not let things get out of control, the harder it is to figure out what to do in the moment. I try to anticipate when it's coming and usually can see it, but by the time I try to get her to stop it's too late.
I'm emotionally exhausted at the end of the day, and feel like a horrible parent. It takes me at least an hour to step back and remember, "She's just two, she's not going to be able to change her behavior that fast."
I am so thankful for her new daycare, and the fact that Miss Nada is working with her to help her learn ways to keep from hitting people. We spent a bunch of time last night talking about her friends and pumping her up for the day, but she still had a hard time letting Daddy leave when they got there.
I called a little while ago, and Miss Nada said that Sophi had a little incident throwing sand this morning, but she gave her a little hand broom and told her it was her job to keep the sand in the box. There have been no more incidents, and she's been calm and happy all morning. Hooray!!! Hopefully this will be a good day. Maybe Mommy just needs therapy.
Sometimes she just needs a little snack or a nap and she's doing better, but yesterday we had 3 or 4 incidents where she just started swinging at me. Daddy seems to handle it better. His firm approach doesn't seem to work for me - she just starts swinging harder. And the more I try to analyze my approach to try to not let things get out of control, the harder it is to figure out what to do in the moment. I try to anticipate when it's coming and usually can see it, but by the time I try to get her to stop it's too late.
I'm emotionally exhausted at the end of the day, and feel like a horrible parent. It takes me at least an hour to step back and remember, "She's just two, she's not going to be able to change her behavior that fast."
I am so thankful for her new daycare, and the fact that Miss Nada is working with her to help her learn ways to keep from hitting people. We spent a bunch of time last night talking about her friends and pumping her up for the day, but she still had a hard time letting Daddy leave when they got there.
I called a little while ago, and Miss Nada said that Sophi had a little incident throwing sand this morning, but she gave her a little hand broom and told her it was her job to keep the sand in the box. There have been no more incidents, and she's been calm and happy all morning. Hooray!!! Hopefully this will be a good day. Maybe Mommy just needs therapy.