The Change is Upon Us

Yes, I'm afraid it's true; I'm relatively sure The Change has begun. My happy, nothing bothers her, sooooo laid back child has begun to (gasp) have tantrums. About nothing.

I'm sure that whatever is setting her off is not "nothing" in her mind. In fact, I'm relatively sure the fussing stems from her inability to vocalize what is wrong.

Here's one example (of half a dozen) from yesterday: I was getting ready to brush my teeth. I asked Brenna if she wanted to brush her teeth. She said, "teeth," which has always meant yes. So I fix her toothbrush. A fit of "no no no no", foot stomping and tears began. And I couldn't get it to stop. Nor could I figure out exactly what went wrong. So I let her scream- and I tried to ignore it. Not so easy with a child clinging to your leg.

So a question to all you mommys out there- what is the best way to deal with this? I don't want to "give in"; especially when I don't know what I'm "giving in" to. Should I try to distract her with another activity to make her forget what has made her upset? Do I just ignore her until she calms down? Do I even try to figure out what has set her off? (I think yesterday's episode was because she wanted my toothbrush) I need these to stop as quickly as they began. I'm not sure I can handle a little Sybil with a new baby.