On Sunday we had a family party and Grace got to meet some family she hadn't met yet. I could tell you that they loved her to pieces but that would be such an understatement. She definitely took more time to warm up than usual and I am beginning to see the shyer side of her when she's with people she's not used to. But after about 30 minutes she was running around and playing and charming the pants off of everyone.
On Monday we went to the hair stylist to get more Moroccan oil and I was thrilled when the hairdresser told me I was doing a great job and her hair looks so much healthier. I was very pleased! That Moroccan oil is awesome.
On Monday night Grace had her first full blown, stiff body, throw your self on the floor tantrum. It was a doozy and believe me, my girl has a TEMPER. It all started because she has a horribly unreasonable mother who thinks she should help pick up the toys she distributed all over the living room. I tried to get her geared up by pretending like it was a fun thing we were going to do and then we sang the Barney clean up song. She thought it was fun to sing the song, and fun that I was picking up toys but she wanted no part of it. I then tried to give her choices like hey, do you want to pick up the pink phone or the blue block? I got a little cocky when I saw her pick up the pink phone. I was silently patting myself on the back. Until.....I realized she picked it up to play with it. So after repeated attempts of trying to talk her into putting it into the toy basket, she threw the phone at me which got her a time out. After she calmed down I explained again what we were doing and walked her over to the next toy and then the crocodile tears started. Then she buried her head in my legs and wouldn't let go. Then she threw herself on the floor. Good times my friends. Good times. Did I mention she has a very dramatic flair? So in order to get her to clean up I had to walk her to the first couple of toys, take her hands and put them around the toy and then walk her over to the toy basket. I remained calm and patient but made it clear I wasn't giving in. It took about 6 toys before she realized I wasn't going to let this go and she picked up the last 3 by herself. It took us about 30 minutes to pick up 9 toys and we had 3 time outs for throwing toys at mommy but we got through it. I was proud of myself for not giving in and proud of her for doing what I asked(eventually). And tonight when we picked up it went much quicker with no tantrums and no throwing. It amazes me every day how much she understands and how she's trying to make sense of what I want her to do and why. This will not be our last battle but I'm glad we got past it.
We're enjoying our fall and are looking forward to the next couple of weekends with family and friends. This time last year was my baby shower. The day before my shower I spent the day in Salem, mass with two of my close friends, Andrea and Robin, who flew in for the shower. When we were in Salem they spotted a T-shirt that said My Little Pumpkin and they told me I had to buy it because Grace was going to be adorable in it. Well, I bought it and she finally fit into it this week and I have to say, boy were they right. But you can judge for yourself.
