Melinda, I find myself wondering if it is communication too. Sometimes I feel she is TRYING so hard to tell me what she wants but because she can't say the words and I can't read her mind I have no hope and so we end with a tanty. I have taught her how to sign for food and drink, but she has stopped using this and I have to use my intuition as to when she is hungry or thirsty. I find if I do something she wants to do the same so I try to make sure her sippy cup is always full and she has good snacks when I suspect she's hungry. I think a lot of it is her age. She's starting to want to do things independantly and be a big girl, she doesn't understand why I tell her no she can't walk on the road etc and her only way of saying but mum I wanna is to throw a tanty. At the same time it is horrible and tiring to try to guess what she wants and try to work out why she is throwing them. Sometimes there is no reason I can see except she is angry/upset at that moment. It must be hard for her to be starting to expirience a wider range of emotions and have no way of telling us what she is feeling....
I do try to be patient, but it's hard when it goes all evening. Oh her other trick is deliberately treading or hitting or kicking her little sister Jess. She gets a light tap on the bum and put in time out for hurting jess. She knows it's wrong, but she seems to enjoy doing it anyway....?