Oh Astridthe first thing that popped into my mind was that Maggie seems to be following the pattern my DD/DS#1 used to get into at that age (just turned 2) and that was one of angelic/demonic extremes. "Newness" seems to trigger challenging episodes very easily at that age... be it a change of scene, a change within the family, a change of routine or even a change in the weather. All I can suggest it to maybe show her that "newness" can be good. Even just dropping the odd comment like "I like it when we do something different..." etc. Chloe could also be right and it could be more of a health issue. If you think that her health is ok now and that it's behavioural then maybe you could use distraction as the key plan of attack. When she seems to be beginning her downward spiral say something out of left field like: "hey Maggie, have you seen teddy? I thought I saw him heading down the hall... let's go check?" and turn that into a game of let's find teddy (or her favourite toy). Kids that ages are very easily distracted. I still use a similar technique some nights when my DS#1 refuses his bath. We are standing there in the bathroom and he is screaming etc so all of a sudden I turn off the light. He goes instantly quiet (I have his attention) then I open the drawer and get out a box of matches, I light one and say "let's light a candle for bathtime".... he gets really keen and before you know it the tears are forgotten and he's in the bath. Another thing is that kids that age still mirror your own mood (or that of your DH). They can sense if you are worried about something and this manifests as a bad mood/challenging behaviour with them. But I could be wrong... these are just a few thoughts... let us know how she goes over the next few days.
Oh and I forgot to add that my kids' eating habits lost regularity at that age too in the way you described. The way I dealt with it was just to offer healthy snacks all day rather than set meals.




the first thing that popped into my mind was that Maggie seems to be following the pattern my DD/DS#1 used to get into at that age (just turned 2) and that was one of angelic/demonic extremes. "Newness" seems to trigger challenging episodes very easily at that age... be it a change of scene, a change within the family, a change of routine or even a change in the weather. All I can suggest it to maybe show her that "newness" can be good. Even just dropping the odd comment like "I like it when we do something different..." etc. Chloe could also be right and it could be more of a health issue. If you think that her health is ok now and that it's behavioural then maybe you could use distraction as the key plan of attack. When she seems to be beginning her downward spiral say something out of left field like: "hey Maggie, have you seen teddy? I thought I saw him heading down the hall... let's go check?" and turn that into a game of let's find teddy (or her favourite toy). Kids that ages are very easily distracted. I still use a similar technique some nights when my DS#1 refuses his bath. We are standing there in the bathroom and he is screaming etc so all of a sudden I turn off the light. He goes instantly quiet (I have his attention) then I open the drawer and get out a box of matches, I light one and say "let's light a candle for bathtime".... he gets really keen and before you know it the tears are forgotten and he's in the bath. Another thing is that kids that age still mirror your own mood (or that of your DH). They can sense if you are worried about something and this manifests as a bad mood/challenging behaviour with them. But I could be wrong... these are just a few thoughts... let us know how she goes over the next few days.
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