Surprising phrases and shocking tantrums

Eden impresses us with her phraseology!  She just comes out with stuff we didn't know she knew...

Some recent examples:

In her pigeon book, there is a page where the pigeon who is trying to avoid taking a bath says, accusatorily, "when did YOU last take a bath?"  The last time we read that book, Eden said "last night"!

I asked Eden the other day if she wanted X (I can't remember what) and she said "not right now."

At dinner last night, she initiated a full grammatical sentence, albeit one she had heard earlier: "Veggie burger still very hot."

She has also started having some colossal tantrums - last night she had one 1/2 hour long.  And while it seems within the range of normal toddler behavior, it's also disconcerting because the tantrum seems so disconnected to anything even small that could have set her off... and not at all predictable.  She is a strong-willed child so situations in which she does not get her way are frequent and unavoidable - normally she fusses for a few minutes but there was nothing to distinguish what would lead to a full-on tantrum.  To the contrary, the things that appear to have provoked her tantrums are not things we would ever have expected to do so.

It's very hard to try to have a consistent and proactive parenting approach in the face of these... especially when you are pregnant, not as able-bodied as usual, and hormonal!  During the tantrum, what we are trying is to give her space but be there with her (e.g. we offer to leave her alone but if she doesn't clearly express that she wants that, we stay with her) and not try to talk too much or try to force her to talk.  We are also strongly reinforcing the message that it's ok to cry and yell and scream, but not to hit or kick people or throw things at people.  I usually put the white noise on and turn off or dim the lighting as well.  After she has cried for awhile inconsolably, she is usually willing to rock in the rocking chair with her head on my shoulder to finish calming down (still crying some).

Michael found this article, which we both like a lot. http://www.awareparenting.com/answer15.htm

So for now, even though the tantrums seemed to appear out of nowhere within the last few weeks and she has one once every few days, we are going to continue assuming this is normal behavior and not a medical concern!