I have been carefully reading all of the posts here and relating to most of them! I'm taking mental notes on reactions to PI children's defiance, and trying to remain calm and collected when you are at your wits end. Most of the comments here are for older children however. Does anyone have any words of wisdom for a 1-year-old? She is doing a lot of the same things. Crying a LOT - and mostly a "complaining" kind of cry. "I'm not happy!" When she can't reach something, can't have something, falls from a standing position (lightly on her tush), sees you walk into the next room, has her face wiped, gets a diaper change, gets strapped in the car, sees you making her something to eat, etc etc. Pushing at you with her hands and generally over-reacting, acting willful and wanting control. This past weekend was particularly brutal - she just would not stop for more than a few minutes at a time. She'd be happy for a bit, then start in again. I have raised a bio son and honestly think it is much more than is "normal" crying and complaining. She does seem to be attaching fairly well - cuddles in when I hold her, is happy to see me when I've been out, etc. So other than attachment parenting and trying to remain calm (easier said), should there be any consequences to acting out? Should I be comforting her even when she is being bratty? But how do you set limits with an infant?Or is it my imagination that she's being bratty and it is all about loss and attachment and adjusting? Reading these posts it seems like maybe she is TRYING to keep me at arms length? Doesn't want to get to close? Or is that mainly with older kids? Most of the books I've read on attachment seem to be geared toward older chidren as well. Of course, we were trying to adopt a toddler so that may be why all my books are geared that way.
I've also been told that this may just be the fact that she's a GIRL. Boy - we can be hard to live with eh? I have to admit I am a bit of a control freak also so our personalities are clashing at the moment. It's very hard to paste a smile on your face and cuddle/comfort when all you want to do is say "Can you just SHUT up for TWO minutes???"