little break throughs

Some of the words that Ladybug hates (and hate is not really a strong enough word here) include "please" "thank you" and "I'm sorry."  She not only refuses to use them, but she is proud of herself when she manages to get what she wants without using those kinds of words.  As a matter of fact, I heard her telling a random dad at the park yesterday that she hates those words and refuses to use them.  Luckily this was a smart dad (and not a smart ass dad) and he addressed the issue immediately.

Today Ladybug and I were playing around and she got upset with me.  So she started screaming at me.  I tried to get her to chill out without making it a big deal.  But she wanted it to be a big deal.  She screamed louder at me.  And louder until finally I shut her down.  I told her it was completely unacceptable for a child to ever yell at a parent like that.  She sulked away and sat and stared at me.  I am not sure if she was giving me a dirty look (but I am assume she was) because I refused to look at her.  Oh, I could see her out of the corner of my eye but I did not want her to know I was paying attention to her.  I let her sit there and think.

Now normally that is not a good thing.  Normally she would just stew.  And the anger would just grow.  It would set up a blow out.  But she has been fairly even keel lately.  She has been willing to communicate -- albeit not linear thought.  So I let her stew.  What would she do?  Could she regulate herself?  Could she get it right?

After about 5 minutes she came over to where I was sitting.  She leaned her head against my shoulder.  And she said, "Mama, I am sorry I yelled at you."  And she meant it.  It was in her voice.  So I made it a ridiculous celebration.  I hugged her.  I smiled.  I told her how proud of her I was.  I told her it was the best day ever. And it a lot of ways, it was.  She smiled and giggled and basked in the glory of my pride.

And then she told me that I forgot to kiss the top of her head.  Apparently I always kiss the top of her head when she comes to lean on my shoulder.  So apparently she does seek out my love and affection.

Mean Mama