The Naked Screaming Banshee

Katelynn's tantrums seem to go through ebbs and flows, and they have been at an all time high lately. The morning errands commenced nearly an hour later than planned because she threw such a fit about wanting to watch TV rather than leave the house. She really lost it completely, and there is no point in trying to do anything with her when she is like that. I just let her go crazy and pretend she isn't there for awhile... as much as one can do that when the decibel level in the house is approximately equivalent to a jet plane.

She really just has to let it out for 30 minutes before she will finally calm down enough to have a little conversation and consider getting calmer. By "let it out" I mean run around in circles, stamp her little feet, and throw herself on the floor, all while screaming.

This incident occurred again at nap time, then at bed time. The bed time incident was the worst of the day in terms of raw intensity. I was feeling quite cynical about this journey called motherhood. She ran away from me hollering at fever pitch every time I tried to do anything - bathe her, dry her off, comb her hair, even give her a beloved pacifier! At one point I was chasing her around the house with a toothbrush and looked up at Gene. As soon as I made eye contact with him, the absurdity of the whole situation struck me and I just started laughing uncontrollably. I mean, here I was chasing a little naked 2 year old girl around my kitchen in circles, all while she was screaming like a banshee.

30 minutes of screaming later, plus 30 minutes of calming her down, and she is finally in bed for the night. I survived another day with this kid. Thank you, Lord.

PS. I googled "banshee" and this is what comes up. Disturbing? Yes. Appropriate? Yes.