Dd is a few months shy of 3 years old. She's a lovely little girl, but is, as many toddlers are, quite a handful. Maybe I'm naive because she's my only, but I find her quite willful. I often find I need to repeat myself five, six or seven times before she'll turn around and listen to me asking her not to touch this, or not to jump off that, or can she please come to have dinner. She just stares at what she is doing, ignoring me, not listening, and goes right on doing what she is doing, while I stand there, yelling, or marching over to her to remove her from danger.
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Because of the constant rain this week-end and a miserable cold, DD was ridiculously cranky. It was, needless to say, a parenting disaster and a wake-up call for me. I realized that I need to change my strategies because they aren't working for either of us. DD ends up crying and I end up angry/frustrated/feeling like a horrible parent. I keep asking myself "Is she not listening to me on purpose? Am I not framing things the right way?" I always give her choices and yet
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A good friend of mine suggested this morning that DD might not be ignoring me; she might just be completely focused on what she is doing and not hearing me or anyone else.
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That's when I recalled DD's discovery of colouring this week-end: she was enthralled. She sat on the floor with this cheap colouring book and her crayola markers and would not be deterred from her activity....wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, wouldn't nap, wouldn't go potty, not interested in tv...just wanted to colour colour colour.
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So, all this has me worried...DD's half-brother had some serious attention deficit and hyperactivity/short-term memory problems that were never addressed...DD's biofather as well, in addition to some severe mental health issues. I wonder if her behaviour are a sign of ADHD or just normal toddler evolution ...
