Belle and a Bear

 

If there were a better face to describe this Halloween, it would be that of a screaming, red-faced 3 1/2 year old with tears streaming down her face. 

The day started out like any other, some whining and tantrums combined with kisses and hugs. Then, Emma got to put on her costume and visit Daddy at work. Everyone loved her Belle costume and told her she looked beautiful. Of course she agreed with them. ... Then we failed to have naptime and, let's be honest, it may not be something she does every single day, but she certainly needs it. Normally, if we have something going on in the evening, we can get her to nap, but not today. Why nap on Halloween when you know that later in the evening you're going to knock on a strangers door and get candy for it? And so the downhill slide to the  

Great Halloween Tantrum of 2011 began...

First, Emma decided she did not want to have her hair done anymore. What she failed to take in was that it was both difficult to keep in place and hair-sprayed like it was super-glued so, naturally, I was upset she took her hair out. While trying to fix it, she tried to run away, pulling her hair as she ran. Fit one. Small in comparison to the major one, but it started here.

Then, I put some make-up on her because I told her I would with her costume. It was all simple and pretty.... It would have stayed that way, but she decided she would refuse to eat EVERYTHING for dinner. Instead, she chose to play around and bother her baby brother. I told her to eat or she wouldn't get to Trick-or-Treat with her friends. This of course began what turned into will now be referred to as The Fit. It started with the typical 3 year old "NO!" to which this stubborn momma responds with "YES!" and turned into her sitting in time-out crying about how she doesn't like me. If it's any indicator of how her teenage years will be, she and I will need to live in separate houses ;-) Then Dad stepped in and explained that dinner was not optional and she needed to eat. She sat down and continued to play around with her food, but not eat. I told her that Dad and I were going to Trick-or-Treat without her if she didn't eat. This did not work in my favor, it only fueled The Fit. So I started getting ready to leave the house. I put on my shoes, got Micaiah ready and told Nathan to. Then The Fit really got going. She was screaming, crying (ruining her "princess" make-up, by the way) and hitting me and telling me that she was going to come. No negotiation was working with the eating, so I kept getting ready. I know I'm pretty patient and all ::sarcasm sign:: but hitting me was too much for this tired Momma. I told her she couldn't go out and that she wouldn't get any candy if she didn't shape up. This only made her more mad. It could have been that I raised my voice more than I should have or the fact that she was totally ready to crash for the night, but Daddy had to step in. I was growing tired of dealing with The Fit and I think he knew that it was time for the "Dad Voice". He eventually got her to calm down, but it took at least 20 minutes to get her to shape up and eat. No more make-up, hair a disheveled mess, tear-stained cheeks. UGH! ... This story doesn't even do it justice. It WAS that bad.  Nathan and I agreed that it was by far one of her best (and worst) fits so far. Total, The Fit lasted approximately 30-45 minutes. No pauses, no breaks. Straight crying, screaming, hitting, whining... You grow tired after awhile.

You can see from the above photo that she can clearly show how much attitude she possesses, but that doesn't even do her justice. Em is a fireball who absolutely refuses to back-down when she wants something. It's great, but when your mom is equal in this fireball nature, it's likely to cause an explosion. I can only imagine what our lives will be like in ten years...

I wasn't going to take any pictures on Halloween because I was so frustrated and exhausted, but Nathan reminded me that I would be upset if I didn't, especially because it was Micaiah's First Halloween. And other than this blog post, the only thing I'll remember down the road is the photos. So, out came the camera and here are the pictures of  

my Belle and my Bear:

And in case you're wondering, I still love my daughter. :-)
Even more than I did before The Fit!