Mother of the Year, right here
Oh my goodness. I am so frustrated with The Child I could scream.
She’s needy. Needy, needy, needy. Not just needy for a human being. Needy for a toddler. The way to help her has always been to shower her with affection until she feels safe. Well, that doesn’t appear to be working this time. I can’t do anything without her tugging on my pant leg and crying, “Want pick you up please? Want pick you up please? Want pick you up please?” All day. Every day.
She won’t eat anything except cereal (Cheerios or Kashi), oatmeal, and other grain products. Once every other day or so, she’ll deign to try three bites of something else, but otherwise she’s living on air, starch, and fiber. It’s making me crazy. I couldn’t care less what she eats (so long as it’s not junk), but I’m sure low blood sugar is contributing to her constant crankiness. She’ll ask for something for lunch (one of the number one tricks I’ve been taught is to offer toddlers choices about as many things as you can), and I’ll make it for her, and she refuses it. So she goes hungry because I’m not her waitress.
I am angry at her about half the day, and I feel guilty about feeling so angry the other half of the day. It’s exhausting.
This might be easier to handle if she hadn’t improved so dramatically in the weeks before we moved. She was eating just about everything we put in front of her. She was happy about 95% of the time.
We’ve lived here for weeks. Please tell me that it’s totally normal for a toddler to take a long time to settle in to a new home.
And please tell me that she and Emmy will get used to sleeping in the same room someday soon. They don’t stay awake and scream; they stay awake and laugh (thank goodness). But neither of them is getting enough sleep. We don’t have the space to separate them.
We’ve had good days since we moved, don’t get me wrong. Today is not one of those days. And when I’m stuck in the middle of one of these days, it always seems like there’s no end in sight to this behavior.
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I’m sure it isn’t abnormal for a toddler to take awhile to settle into a new place. Grace is slower to warm up in general so it doesn’t surprise me that it would take awhile with a move. MJ was only 18mos and she’s super outgoing but it still took her several wks to accept our new home. She asked to go home all the time and threw a fit when andrew assembled her crib.
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Is there a way you can rig a sheet across the room to prevent some of the chit chat? Eventually I’m guessing you could take down the sheet…
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or do they just laugh in the dark even though they can’t see each other? And then maybe a noisy fan?
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that is funny. Maybe she’s ok with the move but just needs to know you aren’t changing. Or maybe she’s hitting some new phase and they are unrelated.
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Ugh, I’m sorry. I understand some of those feelings, although I don’t have any advice.
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Been there, done that, love. All I could do was wait for it to pass.
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Funny, I’ve always been told that toddlers don’t need to be making a bunch of choices, it can be overwhelming. Try reversing and limiting the amount she gets to choose? *hugs* Good luck!
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christ, that sounds awful for you. you have my deepest empathy. I wouldn’t worry about them staying up having fun – they’ll crash when they’re tired enough, they probably just need to get used to the novelty of sharing a room. God knows what the solution is for the needyness though. Good luck with whatever you try. For what it’s worth, I think you’re a fantastic parent. I’d have murdered them.
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As my friend here says: this too shall pass, even if it passes like a kidney stone. I know you know this, but sometimes it helps to hear others say it. I feel your pain on all levels. I really think our #1’s were separated at birth.
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Oh man, I used to struggle with Keagan to eat things. I still do sometimes. It can be very frustrating!
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Ugh, I can only imagine! When do you move into the new apartment or did that already happen?? If not, will they have separate rooms there?
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My daughter asked for the “part-rent” (apartment) for nearly a YEAR after we moved into our house. Seriously. It took her a long time to adjust. Even then, she preferred sleeping on the floor of our room to sleeping in her own bedroom for a long time. Good luck!!
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It gets better. Hang in there.
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What you meant you’re NOT a short order cook?? *shock horror* eva’s the same, she eventually does eat although she still will only touch raisins, no other fruit at all. Drives me nutso.
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I’m sure that things will settle down – moving is a really big deal. It’s just a matter of not losing your sanity! I’d be in the looney bin! I know, set up a play date with Leta and Marlo!!!!
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I think my boy ate dry crackers for about 3-4 weeks straight when he was about that age. No problems now. Don’t worry. It will drive you crazy now but will get over it one day soon 🙂
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