Issues

Okay. We are having issues. There's the bath phobia thing. Then this weekend Miss A had what I think you'd call a 'Night Terror'. It was SO scary! She woke up and when I tried the usual stuff that I do when this happens she started to freak out and scream and writhe and kick. She seemed afraid of me, she hid in the corner of the room and when she'd look at me she'd scream. No matter what I said I couldn't calm her down. Eventually, I left the room and called for Peter's help. I began sobbing uncontrollably because I just couldn't believe what was happening. Peter was somehow able to pick her up and soothe her and then we sat together in the living room for a while watching a show to make sure she was calmed down. She seemed fine all of a sudden and kept asking "Mama feel better?" She went back to bed relatively easily and slept the rest of the night without a problem. It took me a long time to go back to sleep since I was so freaked out by the whole ordeal. Has anyone else experienced this or anything like it?

We also seem to be struggling with eating right now. Like, not in a picky way. In a, I don't want to eat anything kind of way. She's nibbling on stuff but she really doesn't want to have anything to do with sitting down and eating a meal. This is SO not her. She is the girl who loves to eat. Who eats bizarre things. Who has a huge appetite.

And then there's the crying. Everything seems to make her cry these days. She's just really not herself. I would describe her as miserable actually. With very brief sunshiny moments. Not nearly enough sunshiny moments these days.

So I don't know. I'm feeling pretty down about all of this. I keep thinking about how I will deal with this stuff when I have a new baby to deal with as well. I know I will be lacking the patience I need to handle this stuff. To be honest I'm lacking the patience now. My belly is getting bigger and more in the way all the time and it makes it difficult to wrestle with a very strong toddler. I'm feeling a bit like I'm treading water and my legs are slowly turning to lead.

Okay, Now This is Becoming a Problem

So my kid, the kid who loves water, who has always loved water, who likes to go totally underwater while swimming... Has developed a phobia of the bathtub. And today (Saturday) while I was at work she freaked out when her dad tried to do the dishes.

I have no idea how this happened. The only thing I can think of is that we will sometimes give her a cotton ball to 'wash her face with' while she's in the tub. Peter said once one went down the drain when she pulled the plug. I'm not sure if that's when it started or not. But it has been getting progressively worse.

It began with her being happy to have a 'tub tub time' but at some point she would kind of mildly panic and begin to throw all her toys out of the tub and get out herself. In the past few weeks the time she would stay in shortened and the mild panic became full fledged crying and freaking out and frantically trying to get everything out of the tub. Last weekend while we were visiting her Grandma out of town she and her cousin had a bath together. It started off fine and about five minutes in she had a melt down, chucking everything out of the tub, etc. I lifted her out of the tub and sat her on my lap as I sat beside it. She started screaming and crying and reaching out for her cousin (who is about 1 year old) saying we needed to take her out of the tub. My hand happened to be on A's chest and her poor little heart was pounding so hard and fast. I had to take her out of the bathroom and calm her down.

Tonight, (Saturday) was the worst so far. She did NOT want to have a bath and kept saying so repeatedly as I ran the water. I was hoping she'd change her mind. Then I told her she didn't have to have a bath but I was going to have one. I got in the tub and her dad sat in the bathroom with me. She kept wandering in and out of the bathroom with a concerned look on her face. Then she said she'd like to have a bath too. She got undressed and climbed in with me. She was smiling and happy at first and then suddenly she looked so sad and said "I don't wanna take a bath either." and started to cry and climb out.

I feel so terrible about this. She is clearly so afraid. I was reading a bit about this on the internet and found it is one of the most common toddler phobias and usually one they outgrow. Next time I will try having a shower with her and see if she likes that instead. She has also expressed interest in going swimming when we go to the Y and I think I will take her next week and see how that goes. It just breaks my heart seeing her be so afraid of something that is kind of unavoidable. I know I can resort to sponge baths but I'd really like to find another way. And if it's getting so severe that she doesn't even like to see us washing dishes that is a real problem...

Does anyone else have any experience with this? Any ideas?