I’m trying to decide whether Amelia’s angst this weekend is a result of her starting to come into her terrible twos or if she’s teething. Or maybe both. Or maybe she’s just acting out because her daddy was out of town and she was missing him. Or maybe it’s the developing ear infection. You never know when they are that little. But she was a real pill this weekend. Definitely testing her limits. So much so, she didn’t listen to me and had her first fall from the bed.

It was a rough weekend. She was wanting to get into and/or do everything she couldn’t. From jumping on the bed or couch to getting into the bathroom cabinet, where the bathroom cleaner is kept to pulling out the kitchen drawers and hanging on them. If I told her she couldn’t have something, she would just throw herself down on the floor. A lot of the time, she wouldn’t even cry, just throw herself down. One time I threw myself on the floor and started whining. She thought it was funny. Sometimes she would just start bawling for no reason. I took her paci away. She only gets it at bedtime, so I took it away in the morning. She stood there and cried as if someone had hit her. And I try so hard not to laugh, because she’s crying over something so basic, but to her it’s everything, so I just have to distract her. I’m on the phone and she wants to play with the phone cord, wrapping it around her arms and body and sometimes (scarily) around her neck. So I take it away and she throws herself on the floor and whines.

Toddlers are so dramatic.

DH was gone for 5 days and it was a long 5 days. He should be home today and it will be nice to have a 2nd pair of eyes and hands to help watch out for her. Once again I give huge kudos to single parents. When there are two of you to help each other out, it sure makes things so much easier. I take it for granted that DH is there helping me take care of her. I really do. So much so, that when he doesn’t do the little things that I just expect him to do, I really take it to heart. But he does do a whole lot that is just automatic, that I truly feel it when he’s gone and I’m doing it all by myself. It’s hard and I don’t know how single parents manage to do it all and stay sane. I hope to never be in that situation. Thank goodness my husband will be home today.

But I did notice a little white spot on her top gums, so possibly (crossing my fingers) a tooth might be getting ready to come out. She still only has the bottom front 2 and 2 upper molars. She’s 19 months old! I’m starting to get a bit concerned about her lack of certain teeth that really should be in by now. If this little spot is the beginning of a tooth, I will be relieved that she’s finally getting more teeth.

She also has another ear infection that I just noticed this morning. After a weekend of running after her with a tissue to wipe up the snot flying from her nose, it’s not really surprising to see her ear draining. So maybe that’s part of what was ailing her this weekend. Maybe she’ll start eating better after we get her on some antibiotics to clear that up.

I dropped Amelia off at daycare today and she started bawling. She is normally fine, but this morning she was standing there at the little table, I told her I had to go to work and that I would see her this afternoon. And the floodgates opened. It was heart-wrenching! I picked her up and held her for a minute but she didn’t want to let me go. It’s not often she does that, but I think she’s still trying to transition to her new classroom.

Her teacher took her and sat down with her to read a book. She loves books and reading, so that calmed her down a bit, but she was still sniffling and sort of crying when I left. Moments like that make you just want to wrap them up in your arms and never let go.