T2 before 4

T2 just turned 4 and I am making a desperate attempt to recapture her past year(s) before they fade away. "Desperate attempt" because I am realizing how much I've forgotten already! And, due to lack of time (Excuses! Excuses!!) am spreading them out in multiple posts over this month.

So here goes -

I’ll start with the Ugly first and then move on to the Bad and then the Good…Save the best for last, right?

T2, The Screamer
Expect it when you least expect it! The screams come with little warning and stay for a good while. Sometimes they are triggered by the slightest change, and often times the “real” triggers are the classic ones – hunger, sleep, and tiredness. She goes into an irrational fit of crying. She pretty much freezes, unable to stop the flowing tears.
She doesn’t get violent or fall on the floor kicking all around. Only relentless tears…
As they say kids do not have the same inhibitions or control as adults. But we’re getting bigger and better at using words and not screams to convey our thoughts and feelings. Even a few months ago we used to have more frequent and long-lasting episodes .
Our favorite way to deal with our crying episodes of late is to shoo away the monster-king. Because only monsters scream and we do not want to become a monster, we want to remain as T2…so we shoo the monster-king away.
It’s a work in progress and I sure have to admit that we have come long ways since the same time last year.
This is pretty much the only thing that qualifies as Ugly. (I know I’m gonna be lashed at for using “ugly”, but hey the truth is the truth no matter which way you say it).

We have a couple of Bads worth mentioning.

T2, The addict
Her Thumb-Sucking started at about 4 months of age. We had to start her in a daycare, a home-based daycare that T1 used to go to when she was little. With all the things that come out of being away from home, sucking her thumb started right after. At that point, we did not do much to stop the comforting habit that she discovered. Can’t really call it “discovered”, we witnessed her sucking her thumb when she was a 5-month old fetus. That’s right! Her sonogram revealed her already developing habit!
We couldn’t do much about it anyways, she caught on strong and fast and being away from her for such long hours during the day did not help much. (Insert Terrible Guilt). If there was one good thing that came out of it, it is the fact that she lulled herself to sleep with the rigorous thumb-sucking.
As always the notorious distraction is the only thing that works.
She became 1, 2, then 3 years old and this habit only got more and more intense. What began as a self-lullaby developed into an involuntary action when she is bored or tired. After a visit to a dentist when she turned 3, she kept saying “Doctor saiiiiiid, No Sucking your thumb” and would take her thumb out. Pretty soon, she started repeating her statement and would promptly start sucking her thumb again. The effect wore off!
We once tried to wrap her thumb with a piece of cloth. She was so distressed at the sight of it, that we could not see her face like that for more than 15 LONG minutes. Nothing should be this hard!
We also tried using nail-polish as a means. I refused to apply nail polish on her thumb to prevent her eating any of it! She could not stand to see the asymmetry of the lone unpainted finger! She was “Monk”-ing about it (after the USA Network show called Monk) so much that we gave in and painted her finger. Soon she wanted it off as she figured that her obsession with symmetry ranked way, way below her addiction to suck her thumb!
So there you go! Both Painted and unpainted nails did not work for us.

Our big worries in addition to her jutting palate is what they say about thumb-suckers and low-confidence!

If you have any miracle tricks that have worked for you, do let us know!!

Until then, we’re gonna need all our resolve to work on diversion and distraction and hope that it does not affect her personality.

To be continued...

Karma Chameleon

Nothing to do with Boy George, here's a glimpse of how T2 can change her colors in a split second!
This happened yesterday...I woke up after snoozing the alarm a few times like I always do. Soon T1 woke up, her usual joyous self. I brought T2 to our room and let her lie down for a few minutes - she needs some transition time to wake up (like mommy, like daughter)!
She asked if she could sleep for 5 more minutes, I glanced at the clock...and said yes. It was only 7.30 and we had some cushion!
Soon T1 and I were almost ready and T2 still did not want to wake up...
She complained that she was sleepy and wanted 5 more minutes (Was she snoozing me??)

It was 8.00 already, aka time for PlanB! So, I got all silly and whooshed her to the bathroom like I do often times. She usually loves it. But not today, No siree!
And then it started - just out of the blue came her high-pitched crying.
It started off so high that there was no sense in trying to reason.

I reluctantly left her in the bathroom crying.
I heated up milk for all of us and threw a couple of our favorite Fig and Flax waffles in the toaster oven.
I thought I'd give her some time to calm down, and she did...if only for a minute!

So I braved it back to the bathroom and she wanted her blue blanky. That's a good sign, I thought. The sight of Blue-blanky usually mellows her down.
I asked her what letter she wanted her paste as...
This is another brush-time routine - it's usually "C" for Caterpillar, after her favorite book, "A Very Hungry Caterpillar".
She really wanted to trouble me today, cos she decided she did not want a letter, she asks for me to draw Piglet if not Pooh!
Draw Piglet or Pooh on her brush with her paste?
No kidding! I could almost see a smirk in her 3-year old face. I find it hilarious on hindsight...

It was about 8.20 by then, and I somehow managed to convince her that I'll write a "P" instead. She agreed!! WOW! That was easy!
I thought too soon that her tantrum ended.

Next, she simply refused to get off of the potty to brush her teeth. Gimme a break now, sweetheart! I had to whisk her again and brush her teeth through her screaming.
It was actually a bit easy cos her mouth was open all the time :)

Through her crying, she gargled and then I bathed her, again more crying.

And suddenly the crying stopped. That's it! Just the way it started - no warning!
Like the aftermath of a storm, she was completely calm and gave me a bright smile.
She changed her colors faster than a Chameleon...

She loved the dress I had picked for her (more because she got to wear stockings, I think). She wanted a big huggie. She got 10.

In the next ten minutes, we were out of the garage after getting dressed, drinking milk, taking Vitamins, and having a spoonful of Pankaja Kasthuri, all buckled up and ready for the day!
Slowly I broached the reasoning pep talk...and she nodded her promises to me briskly...