The last few days have felt like skating the edge of an abyss at all times. A has been on the verge of several tantrums, a few of which have come to fruition. Two particularly bad ones today (and apparently I missed another one when I went to the gym). The tantrums resulted in her: 1) not going with me to music class; and 2) not taking a bath. We’re not really sure what’s going on with her. I am trying to keep her stomach full, in case they are being brought on by hunger. Tonight, in an attempt to get her to calm down, I told her I would make a plate with all of A’s favorite things on it: a bagel with cream cheese, sesame noodles, grape tomatoes, clementines, prunes, and chicken. That did get her to stop crying, and she ate most of those things. (M looked at A’s plate and said, "I want that same plate but without the clementines and the tomatoes and the sesame noodles and the prunes.")

Again, I’m a bit drained from all of the drama and walking on eggshells.

M, however, did say some memorable things at music today.

• I told her she was "a delight." She looked at me and said, "You are NOT a delight." I asked her why, and then she asked me what a delight was. I told her it was someone who made you happy to be around them. She said, "Oh, OK, you’re a delight."
• Someone at music was sucking her thumb. M said, "Look, that girl is sucking her finger!" I said, you don’t do that, do you?" She said, "I do sometimes, but not when you or Daddy can see me."
• I said something silly to her during music, and she looked at me funny and said, "That’s not true." I said I knew that, but just said it to make her laugh. She said, "Well, I didn’t, because it wasn’t funny."

Buppie came over for a bit tonight. Here’s the mark of a grandmother vs. a mom: after dinner, I was cleaning up, washing the dishes, sponging off the table, and I looked over and Buppie was watching M & A dance to The Nutcracker.  She sat absolutely still, watching every move and smiling, for about 15 minutes. She was rapt. What a great grandmother – I would have been doing a million other things and trying to get them up for bedtime.

Here are some cute pics from the weekend in NY of M & A and their cousin Olivia: