Toddler's are Fickle

Toddler's moods seem to change with the wind. They are very unpredictable creatures and often swing from one emotion to another pretty quickly...

I needed to run to the grocery store this afternoon and, lucky for me, at the time my own little toddler was pretty happy and was being a really good girl. Actually, she was singing head and shoulders to herself as she sat in the front of the cart. "Head and Shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes and eyes and ears and mouth and nose.." This garnered her several smiles from adult passers-by and one guy even stopped to ask me, "Is she always this happy?" (Obviously the guy didn't have kids..no matter how old they are they're never just happy, happy all the time, esp. toddlers.) So, I looked at the guy and wondered what to say. And, what I said was "Yep, she's pretty spunky all right!" Which I thought was still a positive response and yet truthful.

What I was thinking about when he asked though was a few incidents from earlier in the day. For example, this morning when I was giving Bree her breakfast, oatmeal with raisins. I had thought I'd share it with her so I made a big serving in an adult size bowl. I was planning on giving her her own bowl but before I could even get to that Brianna was pointing and saying, "I want my own bowl!" "I know. I'm getting it," I told her. So, I grabbed out a little green bowl. "Not that one! Not that one!" she screeched, and started melting down. "Fine!" I said. Instead I grabbed a pink bowl out. "Not that one!" she screeched again. "Look, you didn't want the green one so this is the one you get," I told her. She stomped off all pouty to the living room and a few minutes later when I set her pink bowl down in front of her she said, "Where's my green bowl?!"

From there I was thinking about nap time. We had come in late from playing with friends so Bree was sleepy, but still in her coat and mittens. I laid her in bed, fully intending to take off her winter accessories, but again, before I had a chance to Brianna demanded, "Take off my coat! Take off my mittens!" After I had carried out those royal commands she was ready to go and I laid her down for her nap. About an hour, and no napping, later though I heard her yelling about her mittens. I walked in there to see what the issue was... "Mom, what's going on here? Where are my mittens? I don't see them anywhere!" "We took them off earlier, remember? You don't wear mittens to bed." "I want them!" she whined and started crying in earnest. Needless to say she was wearing her mittens in bed a few minutes later. (Hey, I try to pick the important battles to fight.) But, she still refused to take a nap so it was actually a complete miracle that she was acting so nice and singing in the store a few hours later.

So, when the man asked me if she was this happy all the time I was thinking, "No way!" But then, there are those great moments... the ones that make it all worth while. The ones where you stroll along shopping, while your kid sits angelically in her seat, singing a happy little song... and you smile and nod at everyone who looks over, pretending that your child really IS this well-behaved and happy all the time.