Tests and stuff
Tuesday morning, Zoë went to get some blood drawn. Last time she had this done (about a year ago), she was quite deeply traumatized by it, and very out of character for a while.
This time, she cooperated pretty well with the process (last time she squirmed and fought a lot). When they put the tourniquette on her arm and pumped her arm, she said, "Tickle," probably to describe the tingly feeling in her arm. Then when the needle went in, she said, "Ow ow ow ow ow ow," and when it was removed she said, "Okay now." When it was all done, her Dad said to her, "Okay, now, let's go get some lunch," and she responded, "McDonald's?" (really, she said it more like "Ah-Dahnos" but close enough), so we had lunch from there.
She seemed pretty okay Tuesday afternoon, although she was unusually clingy with me, but by the evening she was rather out of sorts. I kept her home Wednesday because I had the impression she'd be in no mood to participate in the early intervention work, and I was right. So long as I left her alone, she was fine, but if I tried to get her to do ANYthing, she went ballistic and resisted with much fanfare...
Then last night she had nightmares off and on. One time when I went in to check on her, she was sitting up in bed sobbing. I asked her what was wrong and she looked at me with a glazed expression and sobbed, "Bye!" so I suppose she was having a nightmare about being left somewhere or not being allowed to go somewhere.
I managed to get her calmed down and she settled into bed happily with her favorite bed toys (Zeb, a baby doll, and Moose, a Beanie Buddy). She seemed fine, and then when I turned off the light and shut the door she started to cry again. I left her to sort it out for herself and she seemed to do so, but she was awake and sobbing again in just an hour or so...
So she didn't go to pre-school today, since she didn't get proper sleep and she was clearly not in a good frame of mind. When her dad got up to go to work, Zoë shot out of her room and he put her back in it and told her to go back to bed. She cried for a little while and then played for a while and then she did, indeed, go back to bed and sleep for several more hours.
Now, in the early evening, she seems to be reasonably settled. I haven't seen or sensed any signs of overt distress or anything, and the unusual clinginess seems to have gone. Hopefully, she's past the worst of it now and will get back to her normal self.
Mama!
Well, after her two days of being wretched and awful, we went out Saturday and she was just lovely the whole time. She ate lunch even though it was somewhat unfamiliar to her and had tomatoes in it (it was a ham, cheese, and tomato toasted foccacia sandwich), she went potty when we required it (she did complain a great deal about being "taken" to the potty, but she did go), and she was just very pleasant all day.
In the evening, she took off her clothes all of a sudden. We feared she had wet her pants, but she didn't. I asked her why she was naked and she answered, "Bath." She decided it was time for a bath and so just took off her own clothes and waited for us to figure it out or ask!
This weekend, too, she has finally started to refer to me as "Mama". Up until now, she just doesn't really call me anything at all, but something has finally "clicked" in her little brain and she's figured out that my name is Mama, and she calls me that. Earlier this evening I was quite annoyed about something (totally unrelated to her) and I raised my voice and she came over to me and said, "What do you want?" I asked her, "What?" and she said, "Mama." I think she was saying she wanted me to calm down. I got her onto my lap and we had a good cuddle and I did, indeed, calm down. It's hard to turn down a sensible plea from a little girl.
Then a bit after that she went out to the store with her Dad, while Miranda and I stayed at home. While she was in the car she was saying, "Mama, what do you want? I want Daddy." I think it was her way of saying she wanted to go with Daddy, or that she was going with Daddy and without Mama.
She did wet her pants tonight, though. She waits and waits and waits until it's too late. Not sure how to deal with that other than making her go regularly...
Progress and Frustrations
Zoë has been making some progress with communication and social skills. Her understanding of table manners is much better, due in part to the group snack time at her early intervention playgroup, and in part to the booster chair we're using for her, which has arms that "cue" her that she needs to stay put.
She also has shown some interest in other children her age, although it's somewhat limited at this point. Still, she went up to another little girl from her pre-school and smiled at her and was clearly happy to see her (and tried to zip up the little girl's jacket a little more, which is a little odd).
Her behavior in other ways, though, has been pretty frustrating lately. For one thing, she's decided that when she's at home, she can wee in her pants and it's okay. All she has to do is take off her clothes! And when I try to talk to her about doing a wee in her pants, she actually puts her fingers in her ears!
She also destroyed something precious of mine, which was a gift from my grandmother. It was a clock with a unicorn on it, and it was on the wall in Zoë's room. She managed to get hold of some permanent ink (I still haven't found out where she got it) and she actually climbed up onto the dresser in order to ruin the clock by smearing ink all over it.
That was yesterday. Today, she was playing with her sister, and took away little sister's plastic toy mouse, which the little sister absolutely loves. Little sister was upset. I told Zoë to give it back. Zoë ignored me and finally went away entirely, taking the mouse with her. I followed her and took it back and gave it to Miranda. Zoë was outraged.
Not long after that, Zoë came up to me with the mouse and a permanent marker which she'd apparently gotten off my desk at some point and hidden away for future mischief. She had colored all over the mouse with the permanent ink.
I got some of it off with nail polish remover, but unfortunately, some of the plastic came off, as well, and I had to stop. Miranda was very upset (she really loves that little mouse), and I was furious with Zoë.
I sent her to her room and she's been there for some time. She ate lunch in there (she has a small table and child-sized chair), and she wants to come out, but is refusing to use the toilet (I have asked if she'll go), so I put a nappy on her and have left her there. I can hear her quite well from my desk, and have a pretty good idea what she's up to in there. I honestly don't know what else to do with her. She doesn't understand, or if she does (she certainly did understand that it was her sister's mouse!), she's not paying attention.
Sometimes she can be the most frustrating child...
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