miss diva kate

Recently Katelyn has started a stage.  I think I will call it her "diva" stage.  She has just started realizing that she sometimes has different plans than I do.  She's also figuring out that she has a voice when it comes to not getting her way.  ...a very loud voice.

When Kate was first born, she was so quiet and rarely ever cried.  No one could believe what a good baby I had.  We could take her anywhere and she would just sit quietly in her car seat for hours on end.  Eventually, we discovered that she was so tired because of her jaundice.  Once she got her bilirubin under control, she let us know what was what.

One night, we went to Bountiful to eat dinner with my uncle and his family.  We drove separate cars so Dave drove our car back to the condo and I followed behind with my mom and Kate.  Kate decided that she didn't really feel like making the drive through Parley's Canyon to Park City.  Before we left, I nursed her so she wouldn't be hungry.  I positioned her in her car seat just right and swaddled her with a blanket so she would be warm.  Like a nervous new mother, I made sure that everything was perfect before we started our journey.

That just wasn't good enough for my little diva.  She started crying before we backed out of the driveway.  By the time we had reached the freeway she had upgraded her crying to screaming and once we were in the canyon, it became obvious that she was furious.

We tried everything we could think of: making sure she had her pacifier, giving her a toy, singing songs.  At one point, my mom reached back to try and hold her little hand.  That just mad her more angry.  We looked at each other and nervously laughed as I started to realize that my precious little angel might have more devil in her than I thought.  Now whenever Kate screams angrily or throws a fit, we call it Parley's.

Today, we were shopping at Target when I passed the cutest little floppy hat.  I put it on Katelyn's head and she loved it.  She thought she looked so beautiful.  I looked at the eight dollar price tag and said, "No way," and took the hat away.  Kate freaked out.

I put a bag of beans next to her and when I took it away (fearing that she would open it and beans would spill everywhere) she freaked out.  When I wouldn't give her a sip of my drink (she makes a huge mess and soda isn't good for babies) she freaked out.  When I wouldn't let her hold the bag of turkey (that had just been cut at the deli) she freaked out.

Finally, we got to the dollar section and found these cute little sunglasses.  "Okay," I thought, "She can have these."  When I put them on her little face, she beamed and started waving at people like some kind of celebrity.  At the few people who were not mesmerized by her beauty, she yelled.  It took nearly thirty minutes to finish shopping, check out, and get to the car and Kate never once tried to take the sunglasses off.

 Temper tantrums?  An affinity for accessories?  Waving to her adoring fans?

I think I just might have a diva on my hands.