[moonshine]

Not sure that this is directly a discipline issue, but I do feel that I am missing something in dealing with DD, 3.5, who has lately taken to just SCREAMING at the top of her lungs when she is upset about ??? who knows what. She was sick last week with I would say her worst cold yet, and for 1.5 days she could barely talk to anyone without screaming at the same time. Thank the lord that past and she is generally over the cold, with a lingering cough. But she is still in this screaming phase. At these times you can't really talk to her, anything you do to help her isn't right, and I really don't have any idea as to what is making her so upset. It happened again last night when she woke up in the middle of the night (no, she still does not regularly sleep through the night

) and she just screamed. At 2am I don't feel that I have my best negotiation skills, but I tried to deal as best I could. Problem is that I start to snap after a while, esp when I feel that I should be sleeping! DH ended up taking over, and I got to deal with getting DD2 back to sleep.

:

Then it continued this morning.

We are in the midst of a heat wave and she is NOT dealing well. I have never seen someone so bothered by the heat. But she was having issues even in AC, so I am not sure that it just that.

I just feel like I am missing the critical phrase, word, whatever, for her to hear me. I just have no idea what it is, or why my mostly even-keeled child is now flipping out on a regular basis. Just the age, the alingnment of the stars ???

 

[kitty waltz]

I hope things have improved in the meantime. No advice, just sympathy.

 

[julesinottawa]

Is she verbal enough for you to ask her about it when she's feeling calm? Maybe start a dialogue and see if she gives out any clues? Any new things in her diet? New changes to her schedule? How long has DD2 been there? Just throwing out ideas for you.

 

[moonshine]

Thanks for the replies. We had been doing a bit better, then she started this again when she woke last night. I am wondering if it is related to being sick last week? She is still coughing. I got the same thing and it is lingering with me, and I know that I don't feel wonderful. Also it has been so hot, and continues to be, which seems to be hard for her. Hope she gets used to that since it is only June!

I did try to ask her about her screaming fit this morning. She told me that she was scared of some animal in the room. When I asked her why she didn't want me touching her she said that I was making her hot (which is a common complaint these days). I am not quite sure that I believe all that since when I went to her, she was writhing all over her bed. She appeared to be in pain, although didn't say anything. I took her to the bathroom and see peed. She didn't want to get up right away, so I let her sit, thinking that maybe she was sick?? She would scream for a while, then stop and fall alseep, then repeat. I finally just got her up, took her back to bed, and after a few more yells, just went to sleep like nothing happened.

I just don't know. It is like all of the sudden she has gotten supersensitive about something, I just don't know what.