A stinker, but a sweet one!

Ahh, toddlerhood. The land of "Mine" "No" and other unintelligible screeches. After working professionally with this age for years it's my turn to deal with toddlers on a personal level. The difference can be summed up in one word: embarrassment!

The other day we were at the Doctor's office. They have a cute wooden bus that kids can climb into. It has a magnetic alphabet, steering wheel and buttons, and cars to push on a track-Evelyn loves it. She sat and played in it while we waited to see the Dr. After a few minutes a little boy, probably about 4 years old walked in with his mom. Evelyn immediately looked up, other kids are like crack to her! She watched him as he went over to the other side of the bus and started playing with the beads. She said, "Ehhh!" as only a toddler can and went over to him, putting her hand over his and trying to play with the beads! I could not believe it, my 18 month old daughter was bullying a four year old boy! She gets it from Bard ; ) I firmly said, "Evelyn, use your words and it's his turn to play with the beads." (We don't teach sharing, delayed gratification is more developmentally appropriate for this age, sharing will come later.) She ignored me so I picked her up and told her she had to stay with mama since she wasn't listening and waiting her turn. That of course brought more screeching, although thankfully just a few seconds and then she calmed down and was able to play on her side of the bus. Sheesh! I was so embarrassed, and yes, angry at her for not acting how I expect her to in public.

Fortunately the great thing about toddlers is that they are all incredibly bi-polar. They can be in royal fit mode one second, tears, kicking, screaming (which she hasn't done. . .yet) and snuggly, loving, and sweet the next. On one hand it can be annoying as you try to catch up to their moods, on the other hand it can be their saving grace! Just a moment later as we were going to leave, the receptionist came out from behind the counter and said hi to Evelyn. Evelyn has seen her just a handful of times in her life and really doesn't know her well at all. But she dropped my hand, said, "Hug!" and ran up to the receptionist, arms outstretched to give her a hug. Of course, I melted : ) This has become her new favorite thing to do-maybe having a little to do with the great reaction she gets from everyone! We stopped by the Y a few days ago and with both of my bosses, neither of whom she has really seen since May, she immediately said, "Hug, hug!" All week she has been giving out hugs to everyone. See, she is not such a stinker after all : )