Crying Fits

Alisa has been having fits of crying this week when she wants or doesn't want something. It's usually related to food and not wanting it. She's frustrated and just freaks out. I ask, "Do you want pasta?" and she cries and says, "No! No! No!" so I ask "Do you want fruit?" and so on but she again cries and says, "No! No! No!" in a very snotty voice. I'm thinking "Chill out, I'm only trying to figure out what you want to eat!" If I ask her not to cry but just to tell me what she wants, she says, "No, I HAVE to cry!" She often will shout, "No, no! I don't want to eat!" even when I'm not asking her anything (I'm just doing something in the kitchen). We never force her to eat because mealtimes are supposed to be happy. We just keep asking every once in awhile if she's hungry and keep giving her options for food and hope she eats something for each meal (she used to be such a good eater but has become more picky lately).

She even has the fits at dinnertime after she's well rested from a nap. Sometimes I talk to her to try to end the fit, other times I ignore her. Neither seems to help much...it seems she just needs to cry for a minute. Then she'll stop crying and play happily for a bit but then will have another fit soon after. I really hope this phase is over quickly because it's driving me nuts!