Drama Queen

I’m thinking about calling our place “The Actor’s Studio.” 

Not because I can imitate Will Ferrell imitating James Lipton, but because in my house we have three accomplished performers in their own right. I have to admit that when it comes to funny, crazy, and what Heather would call “stupid” performances, I take the lead. I’m the character actor of the family. Heather is definitely full of drama and can switch from sweet and innocent to brat mode fairly quickly. Her mother will agree with me. But when it comes to full-on tragedy and despair, no one compares to the two-year old.

It’s easy to guess that since Heather and I are the parents, our little one might be inclined to put on a little bit of a show whenever possible. And at the magic age of two, she has decided that a little drama seems to fit her best.

Apparently she has been studying the Stanislavski method of acting, where she takes on the emotions of her characters, who – in most cases – are either experiencing the end of the world or some sort of tragic loss. This would include throwing her head back in a cry of anguish and may or may not lead to a fit of writhing on the floor.

In some cases, this may include hitting something that deserves to feel her pain. And most of the time “No Daddy” or “No Momma,” is associated. All in all, it’s quite a performance. If we’re lucky, there will be two or three performances a day, centered around the fact that she can’t have something she apparently needs desperately.

I have to admit that the first few times I witnessed these tirades, I was a little worried that she was in real pain or would end up hurting herself. But as they have become more and more frequent, they turn out to be more and more entertaining. This is good and bad, because I think she’s starting to realize that we’re not falling for it, so she may either start doing less or turn them up a notch. Probably the latter.

I the long run, though, it turns out that all of this drama is a learning experience. The main thing is that she is (hopefully) learning that she can’t always have thing her way, no matter how much she screams and cries for it. Now, how long it will take her to figure it out is anybody’s guess, but we have to start somewhere, right?

And from what everyone keeps telling us, this is only the beginning. I guess the three’s are worse. Not that I can see what could be worse, but it probably has something to do with their mastery of language and what wonderful things that could bring to the drama.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to watch our little actress as she flails and falls to the ground in mock pain and help her up as she calms down. Maybe, in the not-too-distant future, she’ll thank us in some speech when she gets a little statue. That’s if she doesn’t flail on the ground if she doesn’t win the award.