The sugar high

Well, if there was any doubt that Hannah is negatively affected by sugar, yesterday proved otherwise. The day started out like any other: Hannah came down in her fancy dress and had breakfast while watching a couple PBS shows, and then we all got ready to go to Angela's house for a playdate/mommy visit time. There was nothing unusual or disastrous about the preparation, and Hannah was obedient & helpful, in a good mood. (I'm setting the tone...)
After we got settled at Angela's, Hannah was offered a sucker, and I thought "Why not? She's doing well this morning, and she'd been asking for a treat since she got up at 7:30, so she's waited a while!" The kids were playing video games, but that shortly turned into a battle for the controller, so eventually we sent them outside to burn off some energy. While outside, Hannah did a number of mean things to Carston, including hitting him in the head with a rock. I was kind of surprised she would do such a mean/destructive thing, and she was appropriately punished. (Hint: Starting to see a theme of disobedience & erratic behavior.) During lunch, the kiddos were told that if they ate well, they could each have a mini cupcake. Again, I figured this would be okay, since she'd had the sucker a couple hours before and she had since been outside, had been jumping on furniture ("It's okay at this house, Mom!"), and had been playing...somewhat nicely. (In retrospect, that reasoning was more lazy than anything, because had I really thought it through, I probably would have told Hannah she couldn't have a cupcake because of her violent behavior towards Carston!)
At any rate, Hannah got to have her cupcake, and then for the next hour, she did okay because they watched a movie together while us moms had a little quiet time for visiting. By the way, during all this, Gemma was playing by herself, talking to the dog, and then taking a nap, lest you think she was completely ignored during the playdate. :) Oh, I did give Hannah a little juice at some point in there, and I realized after the fact that Angela usually waters it down before giving it to Carston because it is a kind of juice you would usually mix with something before drinking it down...hmmm...another hint!
After the movie, and only having to intervene about five times over that hour period, it was time to go. This was the worst part of the afternoon, because suddenly, all the sugar & passive-movie-watching got to Hannah, and she turned on the temper tantrums FULL BLAST! I needed to run out to the car to bring out some of our stuff, and Hannah had a big fit because she wanted to go with me. She didn't have shoes on and I couldn't carry her because I was carrying a load of stuff, so I said she could watch me from the window. (I made sure she knew I was not leaving, and it's not like she's never been left at Angela's anyway; she's totally comfortable there!) She started crying/screaming at that point, and did not let up even when I got back in the house. I tried some of my sister's OT calming tactics, but when those wouldn't work, I took her into the bathroom to have some quiet/private space. She continued to cry, attempt to punch, and flail about, while I tried to ignore her. The only reason I didn't leave the bathroom is that I honestly thought she might break something if she was alone with her temper! I finally wiped her face with some cold water, and that seemed to calm her down a little bit, at least enough to talk to her & leave the bathroom. At some point after that, she became reasonable again and it was almost as if it had never happened. We talked about what had happened, and she gave hugs to everyone before leaving. I thought that would do her in for the afternoon, but then she had another meltdown once we were out in the car. I think she didn't want help buckling her carseat, even though she was having trouble & couldn't get it buckled right. The natural assumption would be to try & help, right? Not right when you have a 4-year-old, I guess. At any rate, she got into trouble for attempting to punch me in the face, and then she melted down even further, if that is possible. I could not believe she was acting out SO much, and that's about the point that it hit me: she'd had three times as much sugar as she has on a "normal" day, and it was all with my approval! She cried for a couple blocks, and then I threatened to stop & sit on the curb with her if she was going to continue carrying on (which I would have done--safely--so don't think I wasn't telling her the truth!) At that point, I was ready to leave her on the corner with a sign that said "Will have tantrums for suckers." Please don't call CPS on me, okay? I didn't ACTUALLY do it. :)
On the way home, she fell asleep (and it's no wonder--I would too if I had just exerted that much energy & anger!), although that's the last thing I wanted at 4:00 in the afternoon because it would most likely push her bedtime to approximately midnight, so she had to be woken up along the way. That's another "fun" thing--trying to wake up someone who has just fallen asleep after having an emotionally tiring afternoon!
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful; Keith got home a little later than expected, but by then, Hannah was dancing around in her dress-up dress, happily singing along to her bible songs CD and acting like the sweet 4-year-old that she is! We had pizza for dinner, and then we went for a short walk as a family, which turned into a mad dash through the POURING rain that came on fast & hard. Hannah & Gemma thought it was hilarious.
Hannah went to bed very easily (shocker!), and we didn't hear a peep out of her all night. I don't think she even had any more tantrums that evening...those were just for mommy. ;) Each night after the girls are in bed, I try to go in and pray over them, watching them sleep for a few seconds. This has been given to me as advice from a number of moms, who all say the same thing: it's important to see them as the sweet, peaceful, content little children that they are in their hearts so that days like yesterday become nothing but a faint memory. This was especially important yesterday, and I was not disappointed. Hannah looked so angelic, and she was snoring lightly, probably dreaming of all those delicious goodies that she got to have!
I hope none of this taints your image of Hannah, or makes her out to be a mean-spirited, rebellious child, since that wasn't my intention of this post. I know all kids have their "thing," and I think for Hannah, it is an intolerance for high amounts of sugar, which leads to ridiculous fits of rage & destruction. I will be thinking about this day as a reminder the next time I'm tempted to allow more than one treat in a period of four or five hours. And as for today...it's going to be fruit, "no-added-sugar"-juice, and sugar-free gum. :)

Thanks for listening!