Tuesday, March 06, 2012

More! NOT THAT WAHHHHHHHHHHHH

Alt title: Holy, tantrums, Batman!

Angelfish has taken to throwing extreme intense inconsolable crying fits in response to her frustration concerning food.  Like, she wants "more" applesauce.  She signs "more."  I tell her its time to have (something else that she likes.)  
She 
Loses
Her
Shit.

She'll then refuse to eat anything else, but also refuse to allow me to remove her from her high chair, and she thrashes around wildly.  I've tried preparing her -- like 5 scoops left, 1 scoop left, "no more all gone."  It hasn't sunk in yet.  I've tried offering alternatives -- sometimes, among the alternatives is the something she wants, so she stops crying and eats.  And asks for "more" appropriately.  Then she's all happy and smiley and back to normal.  Sometimes... not so much.

I know it is frustration -- she just doesn't have the words to express her preferences.  And she has very strong preferences.  Its just really really challenging right now.  I don't want to react "wrong" and make this worse -- I don't want this to be a pattern of escalating behavior.  I don't want to reward the tantrum by just, say, giving her more apple sauce. But I am also committed to understanding what it is she wants, and helping her express it constructively... which means, sometimes, offering her grapes in the middle of a tantrum.
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2 comments:

  1. I sympathize with Angelfish now that I'm back on Weight Watchers. For instance, I really wanted more than one girl scout cookie. I may even have thrown a temper tantrum about it. Sometimes, we just have to vent our frustrations. In violently hysterical ways. Sigh. Hang in there. Not my favorite phase of toddlerhood, that's for sure!

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  2. Lol Weight Watchers will do that to you! Sometimes a good tantrum is what you need (even if it is not much fun for your caretaker!)

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