My daughter has a problem. Her problem is affecting the entire family. Well, mostly just me, but everyone knows that if mama is not happy, nobody's happy. I wake up in the morning and stumble, bleary-eyed, into the kitchen to fumble with the coffee maker (yes I am pregnant and still drinking coffee... gasp!), and then I hear it. The pad-pad-pad of little feet shuffling down the hall. The sweetest, tiniest voice making its first daily appearance, but then the dreaded phrase... "Mine want milk, Mommy."
I try to focus on her little person and acknowledge the request, but all I can think is... coffeeeeeeeeee. Then she repeats, a little more emphatic, "Mine want MILK, Mommy."
I realize that we have a situation here, so I quickly turn to the sippy cup drawer and desperately root around, trying to find a lid that matches a cup... NO MATCH, NO MATCH, NO MATCH. I'm starting to panic, and then again, "MINE WANT MILK, MOMMY!"
The clock is ticking. The toddler-time-bomb. I finally find a match and dash to the fridge to appease the tiny tyrant. I fill the cup and hand it to her, but alas. I have done something wrong. There has been a fatal error. She screams, drops the cup, and runs crying from the room, "NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOO." I retrace my steps and think, "What happened? How could I have messed that up?!" I can't fathom my mistake, and yet, I know I must have made one, for why else would a toddler go from happily demanding, "Mine want milk, Mommy," to a screaming fit behind the drapes?
I know at this point that asking her is useless, and will only serve to further enrage her, so I let her have her moment. After a minute or two she emerges, teary-eyed but calm(er). And she utters, so calmly, so sweetly, the source of her displeasure. "Mine do lid, Mommy." Oh. SHE wanted to do the lid. Well of course! Why didn't I foresee that terrible disaster?! But now, I'm in another precarious predicament: if I let her do the lid after the tantrum, she gets her way, but if I DON'T... if I DON'T... oh goodness me, I don't even want to contemplate the ramifications of that.
Think, think, think. This is a delicate situation, and I don't want to make a false move here.
"Skyler, if you want to do the lid, you have to ask nicely. You can't just scream and run away."
"Okay Mommy. Sorry Mommy."
The face of rationality. Completely reasonable. The last fifteen minutes of drama did not even occur. I still haven't made my coffee. I'm willing to forfeit this one. I pass her the cup, sans lid, and help her screw the lid on. She smiles sweetly and pads off to the living room, looking for the next disaster.
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It might help if you got a little more prepared the night before. Get the cup and lid out and leave on the counter. Prepare the coffee and turn on the timer. When you get up in the morning, two things are already done, and your day is off to a good start.
ReplyDeleteIt may have been a disaster this morning, but it sure made for a great story! Well told.
ReplyDeleteOh Vince. I could spend my entire day trying to predict what will infuriate my toddler. What I do know is this: if I pre-select a cup, it will invariably be the "wrong" cup, and she will once again run screaming from the room. As for the coffee timer, we don't keep the machine plugged in, so it would be more bother than reward. I'd actually like to train my husband to make coffee in the morning, but it turns out he's a bit of an old dog.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kasandra! Appreciate the feedback.
I SO get this everyday now with my 3 year old wanting to undo his own buckle in the car and open the car door on his own. I've been doing it for 3 years now and so it's only natural that I will be totally thinking about the gazillion things I have to do during my day or even during the outing and forget that he has asserted his independence in this area and want to do it all himself. So there I go on autopilot, opening his door and going for the buckle only to be stopped immediately with a feeling of terror as I hear THE shrillest scream coming from the little body in the carseat. Wow. Good times!
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