Our Little Diva

I knew it would happen eventually.  There was no way we'd escape the whiny-ness or the "diva" moments.  After all, we have a girl and she's my daughter ;)  But Zoe has become very opinionated recently.  She squawks often, she screams when she doesn't get her way, she's even started to throw herself on the ground sometimes.  And I'm so not ready for this.  I don't have a book for this stage!  (That's for you mom.)

It's all so new that it's often quite funny, and I have to work hard to hide my laughter.  Zoe can really understand a lot, so I try my best to explain why she can't have something or redirect her to stop the tantrum.  My guess is that a lot of these "moments" happen because she's frustrated that we don't understand her.  She can say a few words now, but most aren't very helpful to understand what she wants.  I know this must be an extremely hard time for her - she can understand us but we can't understand her.  I can't wait until she can say more words to get her point across.

I've noticed that it's the worst on weeknights when I'm home by myself trying to get her dinner ready.  She's cranky from a long day at school.  It's extremely close to "I'm starving mom!" time.  She just wants to be held but it's rather difficult to make dinner for her and hold her at the same time.  So I spend most of my weeknights trying to give her activities that will keep her busy for the 15 excruciatingly long minutes it takes me to get her dinner ready.  Unless it's something new and exciting (like giving her a can of soup to play with - I know, thrilling), she usually ends up sobbing at my feet with her arms outstretched and I feel like the worse.mom.ever.  She gets an afternoon snack at school so I try to tell myself she can't be dying of starvation.  I just feel horrible seeing those big tears come out of her eyes.  Not to mention, she's clumsier the more worked up she gets so she usually trips over her feet or bonks her head on the cupboard or something.  I've tried giving her something small to eat while I whip her dinner together, but then she's not hungry for dinner and getting good food rather than a snack is important. 

Then there's her milk or maaaa as she calls it.  All bets are off once she sees that sippy cup.  I've started hiding it from her until she eats real food first.  This girl will chug her entire cup before touching her food.  If we take it away, her life is over and she sobs hysterically.  There is no reasoning even though she knows we'll give it back after a few more bites.  Thankfully, she understands that once it's gone, she can have water but mo more "maa."

I guess we'll just go with it and hope that as the roads get better, Aaron will be able to get home sooner to help provide some relief. 

But thankfully she's all smiles once her belly is full.