MAD Betsy.

Last night Betsy threw her first full blown temper tantrum. After dinner I was trying to pick up our bedroom. I had my hands full with empty bottles and water glasses so I tried to stand Betsy up on her own to walk down the hallway. She wouldn't stand up. So I sat her on the ground and said "Come on Betsy, let's go." She crawled a couple feet then decided she was mad I wasn't carrying her.

I think it looked so funny because she's so little. She threw her whole body face forward on the tile and wouldn't look up at me. I said "OK, I'll be right back." and she looked me square in the eye, took her ninnie out of her mouth and threw it FAR down the hallway. I said "No mam, that's not sweet." and she threw herself on the floor again, body splayed out in all directions, face smashed into the tile.

What happened next would have probably scared me to death, except I witnessed the same stage roughly 18 years ago with my sister. Betsy looked at me, and slammed her head against the tile. I said "Betsy, NO, danger!" As soon as I set the dishes in the sink I scooped up the baby, handed her a ninnie and she snuggled into me and mellowed out.

UGH. We have a head banger. Little Lauren went through this stage too. Lauren would slam her head against her crib or any other available furniture (bruising herself and denting the furniture). She would do it out in public. My parents had to pad her crib with foam and duct tape so she wouldn't hurt herself too bad. Our pediatrician (who was wonderful and I saw until I was 20) told my mom "Mrs. Stuckey, she'll be fine. This is a stage. She's frustrated she can't express what she wants." My mom asked the doctor if Lauren would have any permanent brain damage and he insisted it wasn't likely (the jury is still out on that one). My Mom was kind of embarrassed wondering if people thought she was beating her child (obviously she wasn't).

So I called my Mom last night.

Shan: MOM. If there was one childhood habit of Lauren's we didn't want Betsy to get what would it be?

Mom: Banging her head.

Betsy: WWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH MaaaaaaaMaaaaaaaaa! MaaaaaaaaMaaaaaaa! *babble babble babble*

Mom: Look on the bright side, Lauren's really smart. It didn't cause any permanent damage.

Shan: *snicker*