Magical meltdowns

It is so amazing to me how young kids can walk away from a meltdown as if nothing ever happened. They just move on with no residual frustration, no lingering anger or resentment. I can't help but wonder what goes on inside those little minds...

A couple of days ago I heard Nicki begin to rustle around toward the end of her nap. Then suddenly she began to cry, soft sniffles at first which promptly escalated into full on crying. This is extremely out of the ordinary for her, so I ran up to see what was wrong. When I walked into her room, her quilt was completely disheveled and partially over her head. I went over and peeked under it and she began to wail saying "Mommy, go away!" I knelt down next to the bed and told her that I had heard her crying on the monitor and was worried about what was wrong. She said that she was frustrated because her quilt had fallen off the bed and she couldn't get it back on properly. I suggested that we solve the problem by switching out the quilt for her lighter fleece blanket instead (it was getting to hot for that quilt anyway!) She agreed to this, but continued to sniffle.

I opened up her blinds and she saw that it was a sunny afternoon. She asked me if we could go swimming in the kiddie pool, but I said no because we had swam in the pool the two previous days and it was scheduled to rain for the rest of the week, so I wanted to take advantage of the weather and head out to the park. I explained to her that Gabe loves the park as much as she loves the pool and that we have to take turns doing each so that they can both be happy. This was met with a huge tantrum, including "BUT I DON'T WANT TO GO TO THE PARK! I'M NOT GOING!" followed by an avalanche of tears and the stomping of feet. I can't even begin to explain how out of character this is for her. I did my best to keep my composure and tell her that we were all going to the park together and that we could swim in the pool another day. Then I told her that I was leaving the room and closing the door and that she could come out when she was all done crying and ready to play.

After a few minutes of full-on screaming and stomping (during which time Gabe announced "Nicki crying! Gabe hug!"), she emerged from her room and sweetly asked if she could come out and play. I asked her if she was done with her tantrum and she said yes, so I gave her a hug and the 3 of us played together for a little while before leaving for the park. I watched her closely during that time, and amazingly there was no sign of the meltdown that had just occurred. She was happy and smiling and playing, and even mentioned with enthusiasm that maybe we would see some friends at the park because it was such a nice day.

I was completely stumped (albeit relieved!) by the sudden turnaround. How could she go from an utter loss of emotional control to being perfectly content within the space of a few minutes? I have to admit, I was a bit jealous. When I breakdown, the feelings of frustration seem to linger around for hours, tainting the rest of my day. How glorious it would be to be able to lock myself in a room for a few minutes of screaming, tear shedding and foot stomping and then emerge feeling like a new woman, refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to move on! Maybe these kids are on to something!!