Toddler Tantrums and Tired Moms

My 2 year old skipped her nap today

I don’t have to say much more for you to know how the rest of the night went.

By 7:00 she was crying about god only know what for a solid 30 minutes. When I dropped down to hug and comfort her she yelled, “I know want you!”

I sat down and as she walked away crying she noticed magnets on the fridge. 5 seconds later she was talking to herself cheerfully and singing herself a song as she played.

5 minutes after that she was crying again repeating, “mommmmeeeeeeeeeyyyyyy.”

Next thing I knew she was forcing her head into the back of my legs trying to push her body between my legs. I scooped her up and said, “who’s a baby shark?” I played with her, got her smiling, and saw the tired in her eyes.

When I put her down to finish dinner, the crying returned and continued on and off while we ate dinner.

This kind of thing usually gets me wound up and angry. I want to say, “Stop crying for no reason. Get over yourself. Give it a rest. Shut up.” I want to scream.

Instead when she said, “mommmmmeeeeeeey” for the 50th time in 20 minutes, I said “Elllliiiiiieeeeeee. That’s what you sound like.”

She stopped doing it after that.

Was she offended?

Did she realize how she sounded?

Did she stop wanting to say my nameeeeeese?

I don’t know. All I know is, it stopped and I didn’t scream.

I share all of this to get to the end of the night when she was kicking and screaming, “I don’t want to go to sleep!”

I said, “your body is tired baby. Your body did a lot today and it needs to rest now.”

She said, “is this my body? Are these my legs?”

“Yes. These are your legs and they need to relax now. These are your arms and they can rest now too. Feel the bed and mommies arm under your head, feel how you can rest into mommy and the bed now.”

How many of us aren’t sure these are in fact our bodies?

This moment got me thinking about us adults who are rushing around exhausted, feeling out of our bodies, and needing reminders to relax.

How many of us need desperately to feel the support of the bed, the couch, the floor, and to just let your bodies rest?

If you need extra support practicing coming home to your body and resting join my monthly community. For now I’m giving away one meditation or self massage technique a month.

As this community grows I’ll be doing more. Some live classes to support movement, meditation, relaxation, and creativity.

Love always

Danielle Mallett