The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Amber

After reading an article written by a friend, I was able to identify the perfect description of my Amber's seemingly split personality--Jekyll and Hyde. Even when she was really young, I used to jokingly call her my "bipolar baby," as she seemed to have periods of being fun, loving and obedient which would quickly crash down into tantrums, screaming and misbehavior.

I swear sometimes it's as if something possesses her whenever we go out into public. And I'm sure people think "Oh SURE she only acts like this in public. I bet that kid's a real troll at home..." But honestly, she seems to do a 180 whenever we go somewhere!

Take this morning for instance... she woke up unusually early, but was in a surprisingly good mood. She actually ran up to me and hugged me saying "I love you, mama!" when I opened up her bedroom door. She was pleasant and polite all morning, passing out the "thank you, mama"s and "excuse me"s in a sweet little voice... I could have just eaten her up!

But THEN I put her in the car, and the transformation began. By the time we'd reached the splash pad, she was in full-on scream mode. Over the course of that late morning, she had innumerable screaming fits, pushed a few kids, kept taking her bathing suit off, and ran away from me twice. The second time around, she actually ran OUT of the park into the parking lot and one of the other moms had to chase her down because I was up to my elbows in a dirty diaper. Oh, if ever there was a time I was ready to drop her off at an orphanage...

So we loaded her back up in the car and headed home, and she transformed again--sweet and loving Amber was back. She even stayed calm when Audrey climbed into her bed and started playing with her stuff--a rarity around here.

I just don't understand it... but I can almost guarantee that leaving the house means arriving at our destination in meltdown mode. I know these first few weeks of 2-day preschool are going to probably be rough--particularly on her teacher. But I'm hoping it will help her to be able to "go with the flow" a little better and be less dependent on me!