Just a little TLC was all it took

My little Miss H has been less than a barrel of laughs recently, in fact she has been a little madam!!  Almost every day in the last couple of weeks I've been told at least twice "I'm NOT your best friend!" The floorboards have also taken a bit of a battering with the amount of "left foot stamping" that has been going on.  It's quite exhausting!!  She seems to have gone from a little angel to a little devil overnight, without even the tiniest bit of warning.

I hate getting cross with her and it seems to end up being a bit of a vicious cycle -  She stamps her feet, I get cranky, she stamps her feet even more, I get more cranky and so on it goes....... until we're both unhappy.

I've been desperately hoping that it's just a phase and it's her way of pushing boundaries and asserting her authority (or trying to........ no one beats mummy! Not even Dad).  That is until I dropped her at Kindy on Tuesday and it was the WORST drop off ever.  She clung to me like a baby monkey and screamed leaving me to literally peel her off my leg and run to the door without looking back.  I did actually call the Kindy and hour or so later to check how she was and they said she was absolutely fine and playing happily with her friends.  Still....... it didn't stop that loaded arrow of mummy guilt hitting me right where it hurts!!

I couldnt stop thinking about it all morning as it's just so unlike her, and I remembered a conversation we'd had in the car on the way to Kindy that morning.  "Miss H" I said "you are just getting sooo grown up!  Can you stop growing please!"  "But I just can't stop mummy" she said innocently.  (I can't remember what promoted this conversation), but when we arrived at Kindy (just before the screaming started) she kept saying she wanted to go back to her old room and stay with the babies.  "Don't be silly"  I'd told her.  "you'll have so much more fun with the big kids in your new class".

I didn't put two and two together until later that morning and it suddenly dawned on me that she might be feeling a little bit left out now that Miss L is starting to make a bit more of a presence in the family.  Mr D and I wondered if maybe she was suffering from a bit of 'middle child syndrome'????  With me being the eldest and Mr D being the youngest, neither of us actually have a clue about middle child syndrome or if it even exists.  However my solution was just to give her a simple bit of extra TLC and so far it seems to have done the trick.  My smiley little Miss is back again!!

Yesterday we had a girls day and I cleared my entire diary (you'll be surprised how busy I am - Mr D if you're reading this!!!).  We played a very interesting game of mummies and sisters (I was the sister) and I did have to stop myself from chuckling at Miss H's vivid imagination   "Sister" she said to me "do you have a baby in your tummy?" "Oh no!" I reply (thinking that was the right answer).  "YOU DO Mummy!!" she said "just pretend!!".  "Oh sorry!  Yes, here's my baby in here" I point to my tummy.  "When's it coming out?" she asks.  "I don't know" I say.  "YOU DO Mummy!  Just pretent"  "oh Sorry!! In about two weeks".  "oh we must get ready to go to the doctors' she continues..........  (it was quite therapeutic being a kid again).

Next we did some painting - Easter Bunny style!! (at her request).  I had to have a quick look on pinterest for some inspiration and his is a great one for anyone else looking for a bit of toddler Easter craft!!

Printing our feet to make bunny ears! (wearing wings of course! and YES I had some on too)

The finished product.  Isn't it cute??

We also did some baking and I managed to get her to believe that these 'chocolate' balls were actually made out of real chocolate.  A stroke of genius if I do say so myself.  (ingredients are: almond meal, dried apricots, gogi berries and dates, a tablespoon of cocoa powder and some manuka honey.  All whizzed together and rolled in coconut).  Seriously yummy!!

Exhausted.

Today I learnt a great mummy lesson learnt.  A little TLC really can go a looooong way!!