Well, GBO, her "terrible twos" were quite spectacular. She would fly into these rages where I swear you could literally see her being overtaken by a flood of bad brain chemicals - it was like watching a volcano.After one of these outbursts, she would usually calm down. (When she wasa little older, she would come to us and apologize in a very loving way an hour later).
When she was two, she would wake up early and climb into bed with us and be really sweet and fun. That lasted about half an hour, and we seldom saw that girl again until the next morning. I remember we used to talk about how nice it would be if we got to see more of THAT girl.
During her twos, we would end up putting D in time out multiple times a day - up to 15 or 20 (obviously short time outs! ). And this wasn't for little stuff - heck, I didn't sweat the little stuff with her. I remember going to change her baby brother's diaper one day and finding her bite marks on his thigh! And I do have a vivid memory of her once standing on the windowseat in her bedroom screaming "I hate you all I wish you all were DEAAAAADDDDD!!!!" during a time out.
Writing this, it soundsa little more out of control than it really was - we didn't think there was anything wrong with her, just that she was on the top end of the bell curve for terrible twos. When she was good, she was very very good, and when she was bad she was horrid. It just seemed that she felt ALL of her emotions so intensely.
I remember the day my childcare helper said to me "do you realize she's only been in time out once today?" It was as if the heavens opened up and a shaft of light beamed down. And by the time she went to preschool at 4, she was the darling girl all the teachers loved. When she still had the occasional blow-ups, she would put herself in time out, running into her bedroom to pull the covers over her head and scream, then coming back out a half hour later all better.
All through elementary and middle school, until the ED hit, she was beloved by her teachers, had tons of friends, the most loving and empathetic girl. The kind of kid who would stand up for the little guy.
Does any of this mean anything now? Who knows. I certainly just thought it was a matter of personality traits at the time. And who knows - maybe the combination of adolescence and high dose Prozac is just bringing that out again now.
). And this wasn't for little stuff - heck, I didn't sweat the little stuff with her. I remember going to change her baby brother's diaper one day and finding her bite marks on his thigh! And I do have a vivid memory of her once standing on the windowseat in her bedroom screaming "I hate you all I wish you all were DEAAAAADDDDD!!!!" during a time out.
