The One With a Tantrum

The last couple of days have been crazy here.  Crazy in the form of Mackenzie acting out.

Monday I took her to the "mall" for lunch and to go to the little amusement park.  Should have been a good time.  A nice treat.  Well, when she couldn't get ice cream, she lost it.  She got the "attitude" that makes me insane.  Her tone of voice gets nasty.  I get angry and disappointed.  Sometimes she acts like she's entitled to the world.  So the rest of the afternoon was a bust.

That night she wets the bed (in the early am actually) so I clean her up and bring her into my bed.  Where she fails to fall back to sleep.  Doesn't bode well for the rest of the day.

She did alright for school but then she starts getting that attitude again. She's out in the livingroom, mumbling under her breath, because she didn't want to pick up something.  On and on she goes.  Getting more and more disrespectful.

So I ground her to her room.  No dance, no contact with anyone but me. I even skipped my bowling.  (I'm really bad so it was probably to my team's advantage. LOL)  She went up there around 11:30 am and stayed until after my last dance class at 6.  ( I fed her and let her out to use the bathroom.  Although she took the liberty of peeing on her bedroom floor at one point, thinking that would reduce her sentence.  Didn't work, but she did kill time giving herself a bath and cleaning the floor.)

When she came out, she was remorseful but aren't they always.  I'm hoping I made enough of an impact for her to watch her words and tone.

I'm sure some of her attitude has to do with dh being deployed but I swear there's something in the air that effects her this time of year.

Last year, around this time, I had the worst week of mothering in my life.  She was horribly out of control!  Screaming, yelling, hitting, spitting, saying "stupid."  I was waiting for her head to spin around "Exorcist style." Nothing I did (removing every single thing out her room, giving her vinager for a smart mouth for starters) worked.  I was in tears the whole week.  When we went to church at the end of that week, she came out a different child.  I have no idea what she talked about with her teacher but it was clear that God touched her. 

I still shudder when I think about that week.

Hopefully, we won't get to that point this year!    She seems to be in a much better mood today.