There is a reason...

There is a reason why all the parenting books advice against trying to reason with a 2 year old....

Last week almost every day Ella threw a MAJOR tantrum while leaving daycare.  It could be the simplest thing that would set her off, and then it was all over and I would do everything in my power to remain calm, not let her know that it was bothering me and be as patient as possible while we waited it out in the car until I was able to get her strapped into her carseat.  Since today is Monday, I was hoping since it was a new week and we had a great weekend, that it would be a whole new Ella and that we would easily get out of daycare.  But I was wrong...another hard day.  These times are wearing on me, but I know it will pass and we will get through it.  Luckily Easton is ALWAYS easy going and is either entertained by her tantrums, or usually he just falls asleep to avoid them all together!  He's a smart boy already.  

Its like the flip of a switch when she decides she's done.  She'll continue her tantrums at home and eventually decide that she doesn't want to be upstairs by herself so she calms down and is allowed to come down to play with me and Easton.  After that we typically have a great evening!  

Michael is in full-force already with tax season and has been gone almost every single night and on the weekends too. Plus she is sick with a virus of some sort, so while I'm not trying to make excuses for her, I do think that there are some other factors coming into play.

So anyway, back to my first point, there is really no point in trying to reason with a 2+ year old.  I know better than to reason with her when she is upset, but tonight while she was taking a bath she was in a great mood, so I decided to talk to her about it and this was the conversation:

Me:  "Ella, why did you cry today when I picked you up from school?"


Ella: "Because..." (with a huge smile on her face)


Me:  "Ella, why were you so sad?"


Ella:  "Because, and then I had to go to my room." 


Me:  "But Ella, why?"


Ella: "Why?"


Me:  "Tomorrow when I pick you up will you be happy?"


Ella: "Yeah!"


Me:  "No crying?"


Ella:  "Yeah!"

We didn't really get anywhere with the conversation, but at least it made me smile and we both laughed, so actually, I guess there was a point to it....