No!

February 2, 2010.  8:49pm.  Due to some issues, we had been notified that we would likely not hear Sophia cry when she entered this world. And so we waited. The first sound we heard was a tiny little whimper.  She didn't cry when she was cleaned up.  She didn't cry when I first held her.  She didn't cry that first night in the hospital with us...or the second...or the third.  She didn't cry when she woke up to eat during the wee hours of the first night back home...or the next...or the next.  To get our attention she would simply whimper and whine.    This was true for the entire newborn stage.  From weeks 2-8 or so she would whine from the hours of 5-8pm, not hungry, not gassy, not needing to be changed just fussy but still not crying.  Once she became mobile and started falling down or boinking her head and such, she finally cried out some serious, tears rolling down her face, holding on to Mommy or Daddy for dear life cries.  That was it.  We thought "Wow! We must be raising the happiest baby in the world!"

Fast forward to Friday, August 19, 2011.  I went to the daycare to pick her up after school and she greeted me with her usual "Ma!"along with a huge hug and smile.  She saw my keys and said "Ba-bye!" grabbing my hand and walking toward the door.  I asked her to hold on just a second while I collected her things.  Bad choice.  Apparently in Sophia's mind this meant we weren't leaving as she had planned. She threw herself to the floor and begun thrashing, kicking, and screaming uncontrollably.  I literally for the first time in my 18 3/4 months of parenting had no clue what to do.  If I would have had ice cream, she would have had it.  If I had a soda, she would have had it.  If I would have had an inappropriate cartoon for her to watch, she would have had it.  But I had nothing.  Nothing would appease her for several minutes until finally, she was over it.  I was mortified.  Who was this little child?  Surely someone had pulled the ol' switcheroo with my baby at the daycare.  None-the-less it was over.  From here we went to the car and drove back to Cruces as if nothing had happened.  She preceded to "tell me about her day" the whole way home.

Since Friday, this has become a recurring situation in our house.  For no reason what-so-ever that is apparent to us, she FLIPS out!  Screaming, throwing things, going stiff when we try to pick her up, etc.  In addition to this "NO!" has officially become her favorite word.  We try not to use "no" too much when disciplining her, instead we try to redirect her behavior to something she is allowed to do.  Unfortunately this is easier said than done.  Of course when she is about to do something or touch something off limits our first instinct is to tell her "no no".  As it turns out "No!" is her first reaction to nearly EVERYTHING right now combined with pointer finger moving side to side in a move made famous by my Grandma.

While making dinner the other night she was in the middle of a tantrum and I asked her a series of questions trying to figure out what exactly was causing her frustration:
Me:  Soph do you want some milk?
Sophia: No!
Me: Soph are you hungry?
Sophia: No!
Me:  Soph do you want to go nite nite?
Sophia: No!
Ken: Soph do you want a million dollars?
Sophia: No!
Whattaya gonna do?

Incidentally, I was looking online for effective ways to prevent a toddler temper tantrum.  My findings were strangely similar to strategies I use in class with my Freshman (READ: Really Tall Toddlers).  For example:  Keep them entertained, give them positive attention, change things around so that they don't fall victim to their own short attention spans, give them tasks within their zone of proximal development so that they don't get frustrated and/or bored, etc.  Maybe I should start using time-out in my classroom?

So is life.  I have learned that just as soon as I get used to something in parenthood...it changes.  I'm hoping to get used to this phase very quickly.

On a positive note, today while we drove home she spotted my after-school snack - a banana.  "Banana? Banana?" she asked.  I handed a chunk of it back to her and took a bite.  "Banana? Banana?" she asked again.  I said, "Sophia, do you want MORE banana?  MORE banana?"  "Mo nana?" she replied. I gave her another chunk. "Tankyu." :)