Be Careful What You Pray For

I'd been praying for my younger daughter to break out of her shell. She's always been naturally shy, although we jumped on anyone who said that in her presence because of the danger of it becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. With her speech difficulties (what? what did you say? everyone be quiet and look at her!), she practically became a mute outside of home. She was the cutest thing that ever stared at you wordlessly.

Recently, she came out of her shell. In a big way. Suddenly she's screaming and yelling all over the place, whereas previously that was only reserved for home sweet home. Also, it was easy to shush her before if need be. Now she gives us backtalk and even hits us if she's inconvenienced in the slightest. Like she'll whack her daddy while he's buttoning her up. It's like all the rebellion that's been bottled up during the terrible two's and three's is spewing forth in her little 4 year old body.

Her speech teacher tells me after each session that she speaks right up and volunteers to say all kinds of stuff. And I have to tell her, I was not lying to get more sessions, she did have a tough time in a group before. Maybe that's why they took 5 months to get her started.

Her daddy is wondering if it's genetic or something since our son has the same issues. I tend to think her toddler hormones (very similar to adolescent hormones) have kicked in, and she's picking up bad habits from her brother. I'm not smarter, just more in denial that we might have two with genetic differences.

She's still the cute little girl staring at everyone with her big baby browns. But these days, she's liable to be screaming or hitting you at the same time. We now tell everyone when she's around that she's a respectful and obedient girl.