"I think you're gross!" -- Lily, during a fit of hypoglycemia in the grocery store. She also shrieked for me to put her down, while fiercely holding onto my neck. Luckily it was a short one that ended with her announcing that she just needed to go home. We were actually two feet from the checkout when she burst, so all's well that end's well. Nothing a square of chocolate and a dried date couldn't fix.
A few minutes after she declared she needed to leave, she was standing next to me at the checkout and very seriously asked "Can you stop yourself from having babies?" I told her yes, and then we got interrupted by our turn in the lane. Once we got back in the car, I asked her why she wanted to know that. She explained that she didn't ever want to have "fussy, whiny" kids - presumably how she felt she was being in the store.
Once home, Dave & I had a nice chat with her about how you can't pick what kind of kid you'll get. We reassured her that we wouldn't trade her for any other type of kid. I also tried to help her re-frame her apparent image of herself. Instead of considering her a fussy, whiny kid, I told her that I think she is a helpful, silly, lovey, smart, funny, creative, sensitive kid who sometimes has bad days. We reaffirmed that everyone has bad days, or times when we feel out of sorts, and that's normal. She sat there grinning from ear to ear, so I think she got the message: she's an fabulous person at the core who sometimes makes less than stellar choices. So, she's human.
Excellent.
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You know, it's interesting because I always thought of Lily as a really calm child, I always felt like Charlotte was so much more intense than her. (Don't recall a meltdown at a LLL meeting or anything like that.) So it's interesting to read about what she is like now- was it going on before she was 2 or did this start when she was a bit older?
ReplyDeleteShe's always been... intense. But at LLL mtgs (especially before Aevryn was born), she would just sit on my lap and nurse or read books. The whole first year of Aevryn's life (and the escalation of allergy stuff) was the most challenging year of my life: emotionally, physically and spiritually. I'm not sure if something "clicked" in her, or what.
ReplyDeleteLily is still intensely shy in public. But now, if, say at a LLL mtg, it manifests in her sitting on my lap, grabbing my face in her hands and hiding her face on me (all the while whining to leave).
You rock, Nessa.
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