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I Want: Tantrums

Unable to speak yet, Patrick defines what he wants in various ways: pointing, grunting, grabbing, yelling, screaming, and recently dropping to the floor and crying or standing in front of me and bouncing with a smile on his face.

Most of these behaviors are pretty clear and easy to manage.

Often, he gets to play with what he wants or where he wants, barring any unsafe behavior ... on the stove top whether food is cooking or not, under the sink where we store chemicals, near the top of the stairs (unsupervised) ... you get the idea. We love that he has a variety of interests and wants to explore.

It's pretty cool to watch him taking all the pots and pans from under the counter and trying to carry them to the front door ... he eventually gets tired using both arms to hold the weight and drags the pot or pan behind him ... very cool!

The first few tantrums were kind of scary ... dropping to the floor, face down, and then tears that then raged into something much scarier. Recently, I tried something I heard about (yes, I do read the odd web-page here and there) ... I dropped down with him and mimicked his behavior.

It shocked him ... completely out of the tantrum. He looked at me and laughed out loud. It was a deep belly laugh. Then, he cocked his head back and slammed it into my chin ... not his first headbutt, but certainly unexpected. Once I knew to watch for his head swinging toward me it was pretty funny overall ... and definitely much more fun than any other method we used to try to get him to stop screaming ...
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Location: Columbus, OH, USA

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