After a downright fantastic morning, Madison took a 90-minute nap (not too shabby for our newly transitioned once a day napper) and woke up cranky! We started our afternoon calm, reading together on the floor, but in the blink of an eye "this" transpired:
Full blast melt-down. For those of you that know Madison well, you know the first sign of a meltdown is the "bow-throw." She has perfected the art of ripping out her bow when she's angry. And then she just melts. It is amazing to me how quickly this happens. And then...just as quickly, she's back to "this:"
So happy that she's dancing and I can't snap a good picture of her!
I am pretty sure the frustration comes from her not being able to tell us what she wants. We do sign with her. She's consistent with "more, please, help, eat, all done." Here's the thing, she can sign more and help all she wants, but if she can't tell what she needs help with, or what she wants more of...I'm pretty useless. She's starting to say words, but only a few. Her vocabulary is not very "effective" yet. Generally, we try to go through what we think it is she wants, and if we strike out multiple times - we try the redirect approach. She lasts just several seconds and can generally be distracted by toys. But, whew - she's got a personality!
Which, brings to me to my big-fat sincere THANK YOU to Starbucks today for offering free "refresher" drinks. Ryan and I were each able to try one and it was just what we I needed to get through the afternoon!
Tips anyone? How to more effectively communicate with a toddler in mid-meltdown? Or, perhaps avoiding them all together (ha!).
Debby has the bow throw down too! We have a "calm down" book we read. It has toddler strategies for frustration. I think it's just a stage you have to ride out though until they can communicate better.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know the name of the book - probably a good thing to start with Madison!
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