Do Spirited Kids Ever Get Better?

Image via WikipediaWell, I guess that's a misleading title, she has gotten better. She is now not completely terrified of everything. In fact, she rode rides at the fair this year, and even asked to ride the Carousel at the mall a couple days ago.

However, she still freaks in crowds, won't go to sleep in her own bed, and whines, screams and cries in the car. She fights sleep like no kid I've ever known. I mean she will scream and scream and scream instead of letting herself fall asleep. This happens everywhere, but especially in the car. I mean, come on, what else are you going to do in the car??? And you are obviously exhausted!! Just go to sleep.

Today we went to the Learjet open house. She loves airplanes, she especially loves "grandma's airplanes ~ Learjets!" (yes, Grandma loves that she says that.) She also learned "Learjets are best" today which tickled Grandma pink.

However, she spent most of the time we were there whining, screaming, freaking out, demanding to be carried, refusing to walk. Generally being very frustrating. Here's what I don't understand though. As soon as we got in the car she was very positive about the experience. Talking about seeing airplanes, and Learjets are best. When asked if she had fun she says yes. Then why can't she act like she's having fun while we're there?

Some days I just don't get it. I just don't get how this kid works, why she acts the way she does, and what she's thinking. I wish I had a direct connect to her so I could figure it out, and understand her more, and be less frustrated with her.

We did go to the pumpkin patch afterwards and she enjoyed petting the farm animals ~ which she wouldn't do last year. She also rode the hay rack ride out to the pumpkin patch and picked out her own pumpkin. She obviously enjoyed the pumpkin patch.

I wish I could be so clear all the time. :)

Going Gluten Free ~ Raising a Gluten Free Toddler

I was talking to my doula/friend this morning, feeling a little exasperated with Little Missy La La's behavior as of late. When I described some of the things we were dealing with she said, "Food Allergies". It sounds to me like food allergies.

She set me up with another mom friend of hers who has much experience with children and food allergies.

Seeing as Little La La awoke as soon as I removed my boob from her mouth and completely refused to go back to sleep I went ahead and called this mom while she was awake.

We had a long conversation and as she was telling me her story and the story of her children I heard a lot of familiar things. A lot of the behaviors her kids were experiencing are similar, as well as some of the symptoms. Not all of the serious symptoms, but enough to make me wonder if this might be at least part of our problem.

It is seriously daunting even thinking about going gluten free, but I guess it means really just getting back to basics and eating whole foods, which I've been wanting to do anyway. (Goes to show be careful what you ask for ~ the universe will give it to you. Or maybe I should have just been a little more specific. lol) Anyway.

It is possible Hanna's hitting, flailing, throwing things, lack of sleep and lack of weight gain may all be part of this food allergy problem. hmmm.

So, instead of putting content in my newest website I've spent the day looking for more information about just how to go gluten free. I don't think it's going to be too bad for me and La La, I'm just a little concerned about getting my husband on board.

He has at times in our relationship been very adamant about healthy eating ~ strict about having good foods in the house. This is not one of those times. In fact, he just introduced OREOS of all things to the little one. He's bringing in chips and all kinds of crap food. He doesn't seem to listen when I ask him not to. I am here all day, and I just can't seem to control myself when there's a bag of chip or a box of ice cream in this house. :(

Well I don't really want to have to fight with La La any more than necessary about the food changes and I'm sure it will be a battle if the "bad" foods are still in the house. *sigh*

I think the things she will miss the most will be triscuits. :( She really loves triscuits and cheese. I am aware that dairy may be part of this problem as well, but I think we will start with the gluten and move to the dairy if we continue to have problems.

It is kind of exciting to know there might be a solution to the problems we have been experiencing, and I wonder how many spirited or high needs kids might actually have food issues???

Any comments welcome and appreciated.

Shopping at Home

Mom works from home, so why shouldn't Missy La La shop from home?

She has managed to drag much of the food from the kitchen and spread it around the house, meanwhile saying "shopping, shopping". :)

The potatoes managed to make it into the cart at least.

Today's been a pretty good day. We went to town for a consignment sale and managed to find some decent clothes for summer. We met up with our usual story time friends but skipped story time today and opted for IHOP instead.

La La was awesome at the restaurant, and other than a little battle over crayons there were no incidents.

She did great on the way home, and as we were almost home she starting saying "nap nap nap".
I'm thinking "Ok, great an easy nap day."

Ha, jokes on me. NO nap today, even with all the I need a nap talk. Oh well. She's hanging on and playing nicely and seems to be doing all right. But it's not 4 o'clock yet.

She slept through the night again last night and that was a pleasant surprise.

Maybe some of these more difficult baby spirited behaviors are heading out. I'm sure I'll get new ones to replace them, but it feels good right now.

Story Time at a New Library

We've been going to Nursery Rhyme Time in Wichita on Fridays. But I had to return books to the Wellington library today so we decided to jump in on their story time while we were there.

Wasn't sure how a new group of people was going to go over. When we walked in, instead of kids sitting on the floor on carpet squares, kids sat in chairs, and their parental folks sat in chairs behind them. Wasn't sure how THAT was going to go, but she surprised me and sat in her chair ~ without touching me ~ for 3 stories. Yay.

The stories were all about cows today and were quite funny and entertaining. The librarians did a great job reading.

After the stories were over it was time for the craft. Today they made these cute paper plate cows. I expected her to freak out ~ but today you get an atypical spirited toddler story. She jumped right up on the chair, picked out crayons, colored the cow, only threw a crayon once and helped me glue the legs, head and tail on.

I'd say she was quite proud of herself and mooed the whole way home at all the cows we saw. :)

All in all a great story time and I think we will try to go again next week.

Dying Easter Eggs with a Spirited Toddler

Yesterday my mom came over and we helped Missy La La dye her very first Easter Eggs. I really didn't think she was going to dig it at all. Well, I was wrong!

She loved it, kinda. She loved making the pretty eggs, but she hated making a mess. Whenever a little dye would get on the table she would point and whine until someone wiped it up. I don't know how such a neat freak ended up in this messy family. I don't know.

We got this kit to make sparkle eggs. They are really pretty. The process was, you dip the egg in this sticky solution, then you dip it in the sparkles they provide. La La really liked how these eggs looked, but my mom made the mistake of telling her to reach in the sparkle bag to grab her first sparkle egg.

Oh holy moly, she got sparkles all over her hands and freaked out. We had to call a time out and get her all washed up and clean, then get back to business. :)

All in all it was really fun and she enjoyed herself. I ran out of eggs pretty fast. I only boiled 18 eggs ~ I mean she's only one kid right? She kept yelling more egg, more egg.

After we finished she kept going back to the eggs and picking them up and admiring them. Bringing them over to us to show us the beautiful eggs she made, unfortunately we dropped a couple in the process and cracked them, but they're still edible.

Fun fun fun. Here's a slide show of the best pics we got. I was so busy taking pictures of her having fun I almost forgot to get any pictures of me and her! Most of the pics are my mom and La La.



Until Next time, Happy Hoppy Easter!

One WHOLE night of sleep ~ it's a miracle

Today I am feeling good and well rested, for the first time in almost two years. :) Last night I had a horrible migraine. My well meaning husband who said he would try to come home early to help me out didn't get home til 9pm. By which time Missy La La was fast asleep.

In fact, I put her to bed early, she was sleeping by 7:30 to be exact. I wallowed in pain in my bed while watching to see if Marlee Matlin could dance. I then fell asleep.

I awoke as I do every night to La La crying in her room through the monitor. However, when I looked at the clock I was shocked and AWED to see it was 6:30am.

Holy COOOOW! I got over 8 hours of straight sleep. My headache's gone. I'm not tired.

We are having a good day. She seems well rested. She took a little longer nap than usual, and went to sleep easily without fight for her nap.

Maybe there is something to the adage sleep begets sleep.

We're going to try again tonight! See if we can create a pattern :)

Until next time . . .

Raising a spirited Toddler | When - Then Technique

Ok, so I'm reading this book Taming the Spirited Child. I'm finding it very interesting and very useful! In fact, as much as Raising Your Spirited Child helped me understand her, this book I think is going to help me get a handle on it.

The author Michael Popkin is all about setting boundaries, but keeping their spirit intact, by offering choices and building a solid relationship based on mutual respect with your child.

He frequently reminds you in the book not to start using techniques until you have finished the whole book, but I just had the perfect situation for then "when-then technique".

Missy La La was standing in the kitchen, in front of the refrigerator, screaming because ~ well I'm not sure why. I was serving her dinner and I'm not sure she really wanted to eat what I was giving her, although I know it's something she likes. :)

We went to the library today and got a new Elmo video (God help me I couldn't stand to listen to the same 2 we have any more). She really wanted to watch Elmo. I would have probably put it on while she was eating (yeah I know I'm terrible), but I remembered the when-then technique and told her calmly and in a friendly tone of voice that when she finished eating her dinner then she could watch the new Elmo video.

She looked at me, stopped screaming, came in and started eating. She looked at me and said "Elmo" I reminded her when she was done eating then she could watch Elmo.

Lo and behold she started scarfing her food down, and is happily eating/humming behind me as I type. WOW.

Chalk one up for mom today. We also had a lovely time at the playground ~ still no swing, but she did let a little girl hold her hand and help her up the slide stairs. It's progress.

Until next time . . .