January 29: Such a Good Day!

We have been having some problems with Audrey lately.  Mostly, she is just crying and whining a lot.  She will break down into tears and meltdown over the smallest and most unimportant things.  She has always been dramatic like this, but lately, it has been really extreme.  She has been doing the same thing at school, acting clingy with the teachers and breaking out in tears frequently.   Daniel and I have been really frustrated and searching for ideas on how we can help her to better deal with her emotions and handle life without crying about everything!

This morning, Audrey woke up with a runny, snotty nose.  Congestion in her nose has always been something that caused Audrey to be upset.  Immediately, I thought, "oh great, this is going to be a long day!"  Sometimes she just seems to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and it is bad all day long.  And knowing that it was a school day, I was worried that she would be a mess at school.  Then, right before we walked out the door for school, Audrey slammed her finger in our front door.  She screamed bloody murder and continued to cry on the ride to school.  Once in her classroom, she was very anxious about everything she was going to do today, and her eyes were full of tears. 

I left her at school, and then I spent the morning annoyed and worried about how she was going to act at school.  I kept my phone close to me, as I could just imagine the school calling because she was throwing a fit and refusing to calm down.  (She has never done that before, and the school has never called before...but I just had a feeling that today was going to be that day).

When I went to pick her up, I was greeted by the happiest little girl with a huge smile on her face!  She immediately started to excitedly tell me all that she did at school.  I even checked with her teacher to make sure she had a good day, and she did great!  No tears!  I can't even put into words how happy this made me.  She started the day upset and in tears, but she managed to pull herself together, put on her happy face, and turn her attitude around.  I am so, so proud of her!!!

Audrey continued to be so happy and sweet for the rest of the day.  No tears, no fits, nothing but smiles and laughter and lots of fun!  She was so, so good.  I praised her A LOT on her good behavior and good attitude and happy face.  Then tonight, I let her have her favorite special treat before bed:  hot chocolate with marshmallows in it! 

Audrey spent most of the afternoon playing school.  She spends a lot of her free time playing school, which makes me think that she loves school even though she sometimes cries while she is there.  Here is a video I took the other day, when Audrey was pretending to be her music teacher.  It's kind of long, but I just think she is so entertaining when she is in "teacher" mode.  (Sorry for the view of all the trash and junk on our table.  I was trying to sneak the video, because Audrey gets upset if she knows we are recording her).

I love watching Isla in that video too.  Just smiling and spinning around in circles.  I don't think Audrey noticed that I was recording, but I have a feeling that Isla knew and she was trying to show off for the camera!