Diastrous trip to London
2.jpg)
Amelia asleep on the train from London, after exhausting herself by howling
Our weekend trip to London for Chinese New Year was a disaster on some fronts. Amelia had two sleepless nights in a row – we don’t really know why. She’s been fine since we came home. On the second night she howled so much I had to take her downstairs. This all led to her being so tired on Sunday (the day we were going up to London to see the festivities) that she deteriorated into a screaming rage just after we got there and we had to take her back to Ian’s brother’s house (they live in Kenley, Surrey, so it’s about a 45 minute train ride each way) without seeing much.
We did see a bit of the Chinese New Year parade. The dancing dragon was particularly impressive, and the people on stilts. Strangely most of the people there - those taking in the parade as well as spectators - were not Chinese. Perhaps this was because (according to one web site I looked at anyway) the fifth day of the Chinese New Year period is the day you're supposed to spend at home waiting for the god of wealth. Which is probably what we should have done.
We did have a lovely time visiting Ian's brother and sister-in-law - apart from Amelia keeping them awake. Not sure how keen they'll be to invite us again!
PS: Happy belated Valentine's Day.
Comments
Hey, Marie and Ian,
Isn't it interesting being the parents of a toddler!!!! Isabella has sure learned the fine art of temper tantrums - and she really doesn't need a good reason to have one!!! She has yelled for up to an HOUR!!! Mostly when she is tired, she can't cope and it doesn't take much to send her over the edge. On Monday night she started to tantrum because she wanted to go to music class - which is on Thursday evenings - couldn't quite convince her of that. I always find the tantrums to be quite draining, though with the second (Maddy was the queen of tantrums) it is so much easier.
Have you read the book "Raising the Spirited Child?" It has some really interesting information about dealing with different behaviours. Both of my girls fit into the "spirited child" spectrum though for different reasons. Maddy is the intense one and Isabella the slow-to-warm child.
I've done a lot of reading about temperament (mostly for work) and find it to be so helpful in dealing with this stuff.
What really throws me about the tantrums is how my sweet, angelic Isabella can scream with such powerful rage. Now we know why they call the gals from Hunan, hot chili pepper girls!!
Hang in there - it will end - though for Maddy, she had many more tantrums when she was four and became a big sister (almost one a day for about three months - yes, I did lose my mind :-)
Sorry you didn't get to enjoy the CNY event, I know you were looking forward to it.
Take care, Janice (and Eric and Madeline and Isabella)
Posted by: Jan | February 16, 2005 09:22 PM