Two Year Olds are Bipolar

Today I had lunch with my brother and sister-in-law at a local buffet. The first half of lunch was comprised of me schlepping kids back and forth to the bathroom for the weekly Tour de Potty. When we finally completed that I actually got to sit down and eat a small salad before the next demand came. This was from Sam who insisted on having a cookie despite the fact that she hadn't eaten any of her lunch. I told her she had to have at least a bite of chicken, fish, carrots, beans, or anything else that was currently on her plate. To this she picked up the chicken, bit it (did not take a bite mind you) and put it back down and returned to her mantra of cookie, cookie, cookie occassionally interspersed with a please. Finally she ate a bit of her lunch, so I let her have some ice cream with a quarter cookie and a banana in it. She was upset that the banana and ice cream were touching at first, but quickly got over it when she realized it was good.

The next fight was over my cake which she wanted to cut up, and eat of course. I patiently told her it was mine which threw her into a tizzy. We went outside for a time out, and came back in when she had calmed down, except she hadn't. As soon as we re-entered the restaurant she began howling and screaming even louder. So, the meal was over, and I took the girls home. Sam cried and screamed halfway home until she fell asleep. It was only another 10 minutes to home, so no real nap.

Why do I tell you this tale of horror? Because when we arrived home, she again began her screaming (and this is a kid who has never done this till this week, and now this is episode #3.) Liz had the misfortune of being present for scenes #1 and #2. Anyway, I had had it. I put her and Riley into bed for naps. Riley went right to sleep. Sam otoh lay away playing with a book she had somehow smuggled in. After 1/2 hour I finally went in to take it away hoping she would sleep. She did not. Oh, and she was naked - had taken off her clothes while entertaining herself. For the next hour and a half I could hear her in there singing and talking to herself. She was quite happy with not a tantrum in sight. When it was time to get up, she had managed to get her clothes back on, but the shirt was inside out and backwards. It was quite cute.

So yes, two year olds are bi-polar.