Add this one to the list...

This morning, I discovered another thing to add to the list of "things that set Angelica off".

She woke up, happy as a clam. I got her dressed (even letting her wear her very favorite Mickey Mouse shirt), and then we headed to the kitchen to get breakfast. She picked her bowl (the red Elmo bowl they sell at Target for $1, pretty much her favorite bowl ever.) She poured her own cheerios. She poured the milk. (With help from Mommy.) She picked her own spoon. All things she asks to do to assert her independence, which I have no trouble with.

I get her situated at the table with her bowl and then ask her what she wants to drink. And that's when it goes downhill.

The conversation went a little like this...
"What would you like to drink, honey?"
"Hmm. Let's see...CHOCOLATE MILK!"
"Okay, but we have to have it in a sippy cup. Okay?"
(...because she has a tendency to "play" with it and I did not want to have to bathe her before school)
"Okay Mommy! Sippy cup!"

I get a sippy cup, pour in the milk, add a little bit of chocolate Ovaltine, close it, and shake the cup to mix it.

"NO! I WANT TO STIR! ME MIX IT? ME MIX IT?"
"We can't this morning, remember, we agreed it had to go in a sippy cup."
"NO! I WANT TO STIR IT! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
I place the cup on the table.
"NO! DON'T WANT IT!" She throws it on the floor.
I pick it up and place it back on the table.
"You don't have to drink it, but it stays on the table."
She throws it again, screaming and crying and yelling things I can't even understand at this point. So I walk away and continue to pack my lunch, make coffee, and not give in to her "need" to stir her own chocolate milk.

Scott wakes up and asks what's wrong.
"Oh, I just gave her some chocolate milk in the wrong cup."

Eventually, she calmed down a bit, and I sat across from her and explained that I understood she was frustrated, and I would let her stir some chocolate milk at dinner if she still wanted. A few minutes later, she stopped crying, and gulped it down like you wouldn't believe, and asked to watch Boogie Boogie Hedgehog. So I put it on TV, then gave her a kiss and a hug and told her I love her, even when she's angry.

I've just got to keep hoping that she grows out of this phase soon. Doubtful. She's headstrong and stubborn, and gets a little bit of that from both of her parents.

I will say, though, when she's not having tantrums, she is such a sweetheart. Last night before bed, I was changing the batteries in her "bubble machine" (her Fisher Price Ocean Wonders aquarium) and I was struggling to get the batteries out. She saw me struggling and said, "You okay, Mommy?" then jumped up on the bed next to me, gave me a big hug and said, "Hi Mommy, hello, it's okay." I just have to remember these good times when the tough ones come along.