"I can't calm down"

Just before bed last night Maya said she was hungry...no, "starving" was her word. This has become a regular thing for her. She says she is hungry at night. Now, usually at dinner she says she is done eating even if she has a few bites left on her plate. So i know she is really not starving later that night. So I try to not indulge her by giving her a late night snack. I tell her that she should have eaten all her food at dinner and she'll have to wait for breakfast to eat. She is not happy with this and usually starts to cry.

But last night was a whole new level of crying. She went from a playful mood into an all screaming and crying mood in a matter of seconds. And then she got angry. Since she hadn't brushed her teeth yet, I told her to go brush them. She was just very defiant so I told her I would brush her teeth for her. So while she continued to cry I brushed her teeth. I pretty much ignored her mood.

She continued to cry and cry. Finally I reminded her that she left some food on her plate and she there is no reason for her be upset like she is. I never raised my voice or even told her to stop crying..just that this wasn't a reason for her to be so upset.

She tried to stop crying and calm down but was just emotional that she couldn't stop. She eventually said, "Dad, how can I calm down...i can't stop."

At that point I picked her up and told her I was going to count to 100 and she could join in with me when she was ready. So I carried her around the house, gently patting her on her back and slowly counting to 100. (Recently, she's been interested in counting to 100, so we have doen this before.) Eventually, around 65, she started to join in and as we walked around our darken house we continued to count up to 100. Actually we ended counting to 160 before she calmly asked me to put her into bed...where she fell asleep after I massaged her back for a few minutes.

Let It Snow - 2009

Diana offered to take Maya and I up to play in the snow this past week. So that's what we did. Diana's friend and her son also came along. We were worried about the weather and road conditions, but they turned out to be ok.

I think Maya had a good time but her feet and hands got really cold. I need to get a better pair of snow shoes for her. Poor thing.

New dynamic - new dog

Maya's Christmas gift of a new puppy has added a new dynamic into Maya's life.
As expected, Maya has grown quite attached to Gracie.  The night Linda brought Maya to me for my week to have her, Maya was already crying as I answered the door.  She gets really emotional when she misses her puppy.  In bed later that night and out of the blue, Maya just started crying a lot.  She could barely speak when I asked what was wrong.  Between her tears she said, "Life is going to be really hard now that I have dog."  She went on to say that she's worried her puppy might get hit by a car or get sick and die. It was amazing how she had all the feelings I had when Maya was first born (actually still have)...just worrying about all the bad things that could happen to a child.
I've had her all week and throughout the week she still thought and asked about her puppy.  She'll finally get to see her puppy later today when she goes back with her mom for the week.

Right now, two neighborhood kids are at our house playing with Maya.  They keep coming and going inside and out...playing with all of Maya's toys...and making a general mess of the house.  But it's nice Maya has someone to play with.