The Beast Within

Malia is almost 15 months old and she's already perfecting the diva attitude. She was on a warpath today - like a mini Mack truck, racing downhill with no brakes.

Incident #1
We're at Gymboree enjoying the music, the bubbles, the parachute, the toys...

The toys! Malia was playing with a toy then she picked up toy#2. She gave me toy #2 to hold and walked away. I wasn't aware that I was to hold #2 forever. A little boy crawled over and reached for #2 and I gave it to him. How could I resist those big blue eyes? Malia came running back, saying her favorite phrase: "nonononono" and then she tried to snatch the toy back. When she couldn't reach it, she tried to hit him! Several times! I calmly redirected her hand while telling her it's OK to take turns. Sheesh. With Kael, I didn't have to deal with this until he was around 2 years old!

Incident #2
She woke up from her afternoon nap a little fiesty. Chatting and bouncing around in her crib. I picked her up and she hit my face. What the...?! I stared at her in shock and then she did it again. This time I took her hand and sternly told her "You don't hit mommy. You do not hit mommy." I didn't raise my voice, but I did look at her very seriously. She burst into tears and started sobbing like her world just ended. Can we say "Drama Queen"?

Incident #3
After dinner we went to Border's -- just because. The kids like going there to read books and Malia loves walking up and down the aisles. She was very particular about which books she wanted to read and wouldn't even let me open books that she didn't approve of. I thought we were going home with a Cookie Monster doll that she dragged around but luckily she dropped it somewhere in the board book aisle. Finally it was time to leave and I told her so. She looked at me then walked away, again saying her favorite phrase: "nonononono" but this time adding the head shake for emphasis. I picked her up as she tried to race away and she hit me AGAIN! I took her hand and said "You don't hit mommy." As expected, she didn't listen and hit me again. So I strapped her in the stroller and started to wheel out. I was waiting to hear some wailing as she always screams bloody murder when she gets strapped in after being free for some time. But not a peep. We get to the car and I take her out to put her in the car seat when she took another swing at me. This time, I lightly smacked her hand while saying "you don't hit mommy." The smack was to get her attention, not punitive in any way. She then started wailing as I put her in the car seat. Then she stopped. In fact, she was quiet the whole 10 minutes home. It was very odd. We get home and I go get her. We engaged in a bit of a staring contest when I loosened the straps and she didn't leap out of the seat as she usually does. After a few seconds of The Stare Down, she leaned out into my arms... and gave me a kiss. It was very sweet. She gave me another kiss and hugged my neck. I guess that was her way of saying "sorry."

It's funny (in a funny-scary kind of way) to see that she "gets it" already. I thought I had a few more months before having to deal with behavioral adjustments but I'm slowly learning that my kids are most definitely not alike at all. Malia is showing strong signs on being quite a handful. Already. And we're nowhere near the puberty years....