The Screamer: Part II

I would like to preface this post with a reminder to all of you that I love Mia as much as I possibly could, I really could only love her more if she were my own...

And that 95% of the time she is an adorable, funny, creative three year old full of love and laughter.

Okay, we'll say 90%.

We have officially entered the hell known as the fourth year of life.

Who came up with "terrible two's" anyway? Did they even have children?

It should be the "threatening three's" or the "thrashing three's" or the "throaty three's"...I don't know, something equivalent to terrible that begins with "thr-"

So, 85% of the time, Mia is an angel. The other 15% (or maybe 20) of the time, she sounds like Peppermint Patty because she screams so much she almost completely loses her voice.

Which brings me to The Screamer. (welcome to the blog, Anne Lamb.)

My cousin: Anne Lamb aka The Screamer. If you know her now, you love her. If you knew her then, you tried really hard to love her.

Here is a Screamer story for you that is often told...a classic:

"Mommy, I want some juice."
"Is that how you ask for it?"
"I WANT JUICE!!!!!!!!!"
"Anne Lamb, when you ask nicely, I will give you some juice."

5 minutes later

"Mommy, may I please have some juice?...THERE will that get it?"

Now again I will say, and I tell Jenn this often, Anne Lamb grew out of her Screamer years, and is probably one of my top five favorite people now. Plus, her teenage years were a breeze for her parents...I guess they had paid their dues in the first 4years of her life.

Now twenty years later, we have Mia.

A couple weeks ago Mia was being punished for throwing a temper tantrum at a restaurant. Her mother had brought her home to me where I was sitting with Lucy, and returned to the restuarant to finish her lunch. (which, by the way, I love.)
So Mia was now in her room throwing a temper tantrum. As she heard her mother's car start up and pull out of the driveway I heard her scream:

"MOMMY COME BACK! PLEASE COME BACK MOMMY, YOU'RE SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!"

About five minutes later when she had quieted down, I joined her in her room to have a little chat. These chats of ours usually go something like this:

"Mia, why are you acting like this?"
"Because I just love my Mommy so much..."
"Mia...why are you screaming?"
"...I don't know."
"Do you know why you are in trouble?"
"...No"
"Mia..."
"I love you so much, Brooksie..."

I told her she needed to come downstairs and eat some lunch, but that then she needed to go back to her room. So we were downstairs in the kitchen when she looked up at me with her Peanut Butter sandwich in her hand, Peanut Butter all over her mouth, smiled and said:

"Brooksie...guess I wasn't a very good girl today, huh?"

The first thing I did was stifle a laugh, then I told her to finish her sandich and go to her room...then I called Anne Lamb.

"Mia had an Anne Lambtrum today..."

I will also say this, Mia is learning. And, when I'm not ripping my hair out because I can't stand one more second of screaming, I'm actually really enjoying this. It's amazing to watch her learn, to see her reactions and to witness her catching herself and correcting her behavior on her own...

That's what makes it so easy for me to love her 75% of the time.