Oh dear! As sweet as Quinn is, she is also a little crazy person. Some of her craziness is good and creative and some of it is mean and destructive. It is a tricky balance. For example she is so creative. She tapes toys and papers to the walls all over the house; she makes sculptures out of furniture; and takes anything that can be tied and ties it to anything that can have something tied to it. I find computer cords tied in knots and toilet paper tied into bows attached to door handles. I find any decoration in our house redecorated … like today I found a sun shade from a toy stroller sticking out of a vase with something tied to it and draped over to the next vase. When we got to Grammy’s house last week, Quinn walked straight into the living room and quietly put the end tables on TOP of the table and made a “house for her kitty.” (I was actually really impressed that Grammy let this craziness go on for a whole day before finding scratches on her table and calling off the show.) Quinn is passionate and fun. But … don’t piss her off.
Her most recent passion is for a show called Dragon Tales. She just loves it so much. She gets this lit up smile when she talks about it. I can tell that it really does mean a lot to her. And hey, since I have shows I love, I don’t see any harm it in. I think the show teaches a lot of good principles, so go for it, Kid. However, when she can’t have it, she will occasionally hit the fan. Tonight our internet was going in and out, and so the Netflix wasn’t really working. I told the girls we would have to turn on a show we own from iTunes instead – We don’t have any Dragon Tails on the iPad. Quinn crumbled to the ground in despair. She could not even hear me offer to buy a few episodes of Dragon Tales for tonight and for next time. But then she quieted down, heard me, and got excited … oops, they don’t sell Dragon Tales on iTunes. Oh Dear. It was OVER. Then – God forbid – I gave her a choice about whether we would watch Backyardigans or Blue’s Clues since Dragon Tales was not an option. She refused to decide. So I decided. I decided wrong and several minutes, screams and lash-outs later, she was banished to her room for the night (kindly tucked in by her daddy.) She had completely freaked. Here is how it went down. First, I gave her a timeout for the screaming, and she continue to scream at the top of her lungs. She wouldn’t stop. I tried to take her to her room. She went dead fish on me, and I dropped her a few times. Oops. She was screaming and yelling, and telling me I was hurting her even when I was not touching her. Then while “we” were going down stairs, she started kicking and screaming and she threw her arms behind her with her claws out to scratch my face. (Don’t be confused. We are still talking about a 4-year-old little human girl here.) I screamed “Do not do that to me” while looking in her eyes, so she would know I was serious. Then, I put her in her room, and she proceeded to scream. So then – here is where it gets good -- she yelled with much passion, “If you do not let me watch a show, I will get up in the night when you are sleeping and take an iPad and watch a show all by myself.” See … she’s a bit creepy.
But it is hard to stay mad (or scared) for long. After Tim went down to her room, she calmed down pretty quickly. When I went down to put Kenna to bed a bit later, I peaked in on her, and she was all cozy in bed with a smile. I sat with her and asked how she was feeling. She said she was still said because she did not get to watch a show. But then she laughed at the baby, who was in my arms, and we talked about other things instead of the show. I said I was sorry for yelling, but that is never OK to hit mommy. She nodded her head in agreement. Then we sat together and sang some songs … some from Dragon Tales, of course, some from her music class, and some from church. She was remembering parts of the songs in music class that neither of us can ever remember. She even pulled out a little harmony. I was so proud of her, and she was proud of herself, which is really important to me. Then we sang all of “As A Child of God,” which is a new song from church that talks about how God has given us the holy ghost, our lives and our families, and we can use all of these things to make good choice and be happy. It is really a very pretty song. “I feel so safe and happy because such feelings of peace come from family love. As a Child of God I receive special light. The holy ghost tells me to know what is right.” I felt a lot of peace when I left her room. A little scared that she might be up in the night doing things she is not supposed to do … but mostly peace and gratitude that together we are learning and growing and doing all we can. I love her passion. I love that her mind is wide open and that she loves to learn and try things out. I even love that she tapes crap to my walls. She loves tape, and I love her.
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