But I Want to Play

Although Madison has been Nothing but loving with her little sister she is definitely testing the waters with her parents. "I WANT" seems to begin every phrase out of her once angelic little mouth in the past two weeks. To make matters worse she will repeat what she wants over and over again even if you completely ignore the request! When she starts to ask for something that can't happen immediately or is out of the question I either

• explain why she can't have something or why she has to wait



• tell her what has to be done first before getting or doing something



• give her other options



• ignore her when the request turns into a tantrum



• put her in time out

I'm sure I've used other strategies but that is all I can come up with right now. One example of her tantrum was her fight to take a nap today. We were at my parents for lunch. I went into their room to nurse Stella and Madison came down to join me. At first she seemed like she would fall asleep right then and their. Unfortunately life is not that easy! Next I told her it was Madison and Mommy time so we curled up on my parent's bed with a story and tried that approach. No good. She wanted to go into the new room my parents just set up for Madison and Stella and sleep in her "new bed". After a few minutes she popped back up so I went to lay down with her. Within 5 minutes she informed me that it was now time to play. I calmly explained that we would play after nap time. "I want to play" was the phrase that repeatedly came out of my sweet little girls mouth over and over until my ears felt as if they would bleed. As I got more and more stern with her she became more vocal with her desire and start the crying/sobbing thing in between. I guess we got pretty loud 'cause my mom who was outside came in and separated us (yep I'm ashamed to say that I transformed into a whining/crying 3 year old too). Within minutes Madison was sound asleep and my mom came out of her room with a huge smile. All she could say was "She is just like you" followed by a sinister chuckle. Apparently when I was about the same age and had a new brother in the house I did the same thing. My mom says that the only thing that separated my neck from her hands was her bed. Luckily my grandmother came in to separate us! No my mom would not have actually choked me just like I would never do it to my kids but I know what she meant about being at he end of her rope!

Like I said before I know she is just adjusting and testing the waters now that life has so drastically changed. I'm just really hoping this phase passes as quickly as it started!

P.S. Only 3 days left! Make sure you enter my giveaway for a Bailey Medical Deluxe Nurture III Breast Pump.