Unleash the beast

On Saturday night, Adam and I went to my company party and spent the night in the hotel for a very welcome night away and an opportunity to sleep in. My mom graciously offered to spend the night to watch the kids and even had my niece and nephew over so the boys could have a sleepover. She said Lorelai was a perfect angel—didn't fuss at all, went down to bed without a peep and slept all night. She was happy as could be in the morning, and let me put her down for a nap as soon as we got home. But when she woke up, she was an entirely different child. It's like she held in every bit of fuss until we got home, and then unleashed the beast on us.



She just couldn't control her emotions and we could not for the life of us figure out what she wanted or needed, or how to calm her down.



So what did I do? I went grocery shopping. And for the record, I hate grocery shopping. A LOT. But what I hate more is listening to my sweet girl cry and throw tantrums and not be able to figure out what she needs or how to calm her down. So instead of getting mad at her or myself, I voluntarily went to the grocery store on my own instead of conning politely asking Adam to do it like I usually do when we only need a couple of things and aren't doing a full grocery run as a family.

I feel bad for leaving (even though I wasn't gone more than 30 minutes), but it almost seemed like she was mad at me, specifically. Adam said she fussed while I was gone, but she sure seemed fine when I walked in the door, until she saw me and started up another tantrum. I know it's normal and expected for toddlers to throw tantrums over what seems like nothing, but I can't help but wonder if she really was mad at us for leaving her for the night. This does not bode well for any future overnight trips Adam and I might want to plan...

Luckily she was back to her normal, sweet self yesterday, but I'm dreading the next meltdown when a snuggle and some comforting words from Mommy or Daddy won't make her feel better like they used to. Ah, the joys of toddlerhood, woohoo! {sarcasm alert}