Fairy Toddler

"Tink was not all bad: or, rather, she was all bad just now, but, on the other hand, sometimes she was all good. Fairies have to be one thing or the other, because being so small they unfortunately have room for one feeling only at a time."  - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Toddlers lack nuance.  I believe they are like fairies, with only enough space in their little hearts for one emotion at a time. Maeve doesn't have a wide range of emotions, she generally cycles through boredom, anger, desire, fear, bliss, love, hunger, and confusion.  Maybe these emotions appear simpler as she exhibits them precisely because there is just one being broadcast at a time.

It actually kind of makes me wish I could live in such an emotionally pure and intense state.  I was kind of close to that when I was pregnant, things seemed to boil down to just a few emotions back then (hunger, as I recall, was a biggie) but now I'm a typical adult woman with all the emotional complexity that implies.  But don't you kind of wish you could really be just mad, instead of mad, frustrated, tired, hungry, disappointed, and irritable all at once?

Toddlers do differ from fairies in that being tired or hungry intensifies their emotions exponentially.  I, for example, unless pregnant, am only slightly more irritable when hunger is added into the equation.  Maeve is like a grenade.

Being so single-minded can be a bonus for toddlers, though.  They are easily distracted most of the time, which means this moment's fury is forgotten when a cookie, say, is presented.  And besides, toddlers and fairies are so lovable when they are good that we can easily forget the rest.

A quiet fairy