Have You Seen This Child?

She has gone missing, and I would really, really, like to have her back again. In her place, we have seen a whole lot of THIS little girl lately:

I never know which child I will encounter with each trip to the nursery in the morning or after nap time. Recently, somewhere, I read a theory that children in the first half of a year of age (IE 12-18 mos., 24-30 mos.) are very confident and happy-go-lucky while children in the second half of a year of age (IE 18-24 mos., 30-36 mos.) tend to be more inclined to moodiness. Charlotte must have remembered the article, because after turning 18 months on Thursday, BAM!

Yesterday was QUITE the day and the first day I've seen such a temperamental (read: temper-tantrum throwing all day long) Charlotte. Couple that with her new FAVORITE answer to every question or statement, "Nooooo" and you may imagine what kind of day we had.

She actually woke up pretty happy, despite the constant negativity. I thought it would be fun to get out of the house and the car needed washing - bingo, instant entertainment for Charlotte and a clean car! First, when I asked her if she wanted to go, she said, "nooo!" but didn't protest too much when I picked her up. Right as we were walking out the door, the phone rang, so I closed the door and stepped back inside. Whoa! Charlotte flipped out about not doing the exact thing she'd told me a moment before that she didn't want to do. We managed that one fairly well, as I just let her run into the front yard while I stood at the door and talked on the phone and enjoyed the rest of our morning.

We had an after-nap play date planned, though, and all went to heck. She woke up unhappy. She did NOT want her diaper changed, to put her shoes on, or to go outside. Screaming as I step out the door, she sees the neighbor's dog, "Ya-Ya!" and I think, "Yes! a distraction!" She hurries across the yard only to get scared and want to be held once we get close to the dog, a big, docile, husky that she visits all of the time. I carry her back to the car.

Commence car seat battle.

Me: Charlotte, do you want to go sidewalk chalk at Cooper's house?
Charlotte: Noooo! (begins sobbing)
Me: Let's get in the car! (Mommy opens car door)
Charlotte: Nooo!
Me: Do you want a snack? Mommy packed a snack for you.
Charlotte: Snack. (Mommy pulls out a snack) Nooo! (more sobbing)
Me: How about some milk?
Charlotte: Nooo!
Me: Do you want me to just hold you for a minute? (Charlotte calms for a minute).
OK, let's get into the car seat!
Charlotte: Nooooo! (Cue Charlotte, twisting and screaming).

Some version of the conversation continues to repeat itself for 15 - 20 minutes until I give up and decide to go back inside to call and cancel the play date.

Except a new tantrum ensues as soon as I step back into the house. Finally, I calm her by turning on a movie for 15-20 minutes.

She then becomes fairly manageable while I cook dinner, playing happily in the kitchen sink with a bowl, a spoon, and some water. After that, she wants to play with Maddie in the backyard, almost sending her into tears when she thought I was going to tell her, "no." Tears do fall, however, when Maddie tries to play tug-a-war with the small branch Charlotte is trying to play with. Charlotte finds it outrageous that Maddie would want to play such a game!

Follow this with dinner. My mom is out of town, so we invited my Dad to have dinner with us. As usual, he got stuck at the office a little longer than he'd hoped and ran a little late. We fed Bug before he got there, hoping she'd be happy for his visit. Enjoying Granddad's company, we didn't rush her off to bed at 7. BIG mistake. Fred tries to put her down around 7:45 or so and she goes into the biggest tantrum I've ever seen her go into. She wants to watch a movie and goes crazy when I say, "No movie, Charlotte, bed time."

She throws her little body on the floor and screams, and screams, and screams. We leave the room and let her throw her tantrum by herself for 5-10 minutes before she comes running out, all smiles. She grabs my hand and tries to lead me back to the TV saying, "movie." She falls to the floor, tantrum renewed, when I say, "no movie." This time, however, she soon accepts my offer to hold her, and she finally calms down enough to give Granddad a hug and a kiss before he leaves.

Charlotte then drank her milk and went to sleep without a peep.

The moral of this story? I don't quite know yet, except maybe, "Beware the tired toddler!"

I just want my happy-almost-all-of-the-time child back. Please send her home if you find her.