Background: my mum died recently and funeral was last Monday.
DD (2.9) fell ill on the day of the funeral - high temperature, rotten cough, won't eat - and spent four days with a high fever. I had booked the Tuesday as compassionate leave where I hoped to get my head together a little, but spent it looking after DD. Took the rest of the week as vacation and hoped for the best. It's a virus, so have to wait it out.
I don't like to think how much TV we watched over the last week. The temperature has now come down, but the whining is incessant, and if I don't comply with her demands she has a screaming tantrum (yesterday's was because she wanted to wear something that she'd grown out of and refused to wear anything else). She is even having tantrums in the middle of the night - at 3am she announced that she wanted me to go away for ever because I couldn't immediately find the blanket she was sitting on!
I really am at the end of my tether. I know in my heart of hearts that the loss of her grandma and the illness are making her behave like a demon, and apparently the way to fix this is to give her the real, 100%, 'golden attention' that will make her feel secure.
All very nice in theory, but it completely ignores the fact that I'm feeling terrible, never get a second to myself even to go to the toilet, can't sleep, and can't even cry in front of her as it makes her worse. Friends whose DC have had the same virus have managed days lovely craft activities to while away the time, but I feel poleaxed and can't persuade a truculent toddler who only wants to watch TV that there's something much more fun (insert bright voice) to do instead!
Is there a way to give her the attention she needs without feeling like breaking down? I feel awful that I snapped at her to 'grow up' when she was yelling for the blanket she'd dropped at her feet..