Myself and my daughter left my husband back in October because he was abusive toward me. Over the holidays he had calmed down and we were trying to be civil. I agreed to let her spend Christmas with him and his family since he would be in Iraq next Christmas and was in Iraq last Christmas. He put up a fight begging to keep her for 2 whole weeks, I agreed.

I picked her up Saturday. Since I picked her up, myself and the people around us, are noticing a huge difference in the way my daughter behaves. She used to act like a typical 2 year old (she's 22 months) and would throw a fit but she would just cry for a second, throw a toy on the ground and get over it. Her temper tantrums never lasted that long. She was so nice, so well behaved... Docs and therapists have always commented on how well behaved she was, even the day I dropped her off with my ex. She was always giving kisses and hugs, played by herself really well and would hardly ever hit anyone and only if it was in self defense because her 24 month old cousin likes to hit her a lot.

When she got back her attitude changed a lot. She hits me and throws things at me, she screams as loud as she can, tells me no, bangs her head on anything and everything, pulls hair and hits everyone, kids included, kids who are playing with her and being nice to her. She's so mean now, to everyone. When she doesn't have her way she goes crazy and wont stop screaming and hitting until she gets what she wants. I try to ignore her acting out, show that it isn't the right way to get attention but it's not working. I tried to put her in time out and that was a whole ordeal there.

She hit her cousin so I put her in time out. She cried and started banging her head and kicking and slapping me. I stood up and turned my back to her to keep her where she was but show her acting out wouldn't get her what she wanted. Eventually she calmed down after hitting me for about 5 minutes and banging her head. Than I turn around to let her know it's OK to get out of time out and she jerks away from me and curls up into a ball hiding her head in her hands. She's only 22 months old, she shouldn't know a self defense move like that at such a young age. She looked like she was genuinely scared of me. I picked her up and felt bad so I hugged her and she held on to my neck with extreme force for a very long time.

That part worries me about her. With her attitude completely different, her being mean now and the way she was acting, I'm wondering if maybe they were violent to her. This part I'm looking into right now. I'll find out, I don't know how but I will. Now what I do need to know is how to get her back on track. She and I were such a good team before, things were great and we were both happy, now we already seem to be on two different pages, I thought this part wasn't supposed to come until she was a teen?!

Any ideas on how to help get my daughter back to the happy sweet angel she was before she left? Any ideas on anything? Thanks a ton