A Prescription for Frustration

There is a 15 month old in my house. She has gone from being a little baby to looking, speaking, and acting like a little person…a very busy and often frustrated little person!

She has opinions about everything!  She comments on the meals as if she is a very important restaurant critic.  She has a lot to say about my waitressing skills, as I never bring the food fast enough.  Then, there is the ever-present frustration with “work.”  She stacks, sorts, and reads all day only to be perturbed when a certain shape refuses to go through its appropriate hole.  She “quits” several times each day.  It’s a good thing her manager (that would be me) knows and appreciates who she is and what she does.

At the moment my micromanagement is acceptable.  But, there are times when she feels it is her place to tell me how to run the business of home.  When her social life is experiencing a sudden dip, she simply wants space and for people to leave her toys and food alone.   She’ll share and talk with you IF she wants to; why is that so hard to understand?

I had forgotten the joys of a budding toddler and how a good dose of humor truly makes this phase so much more enjoyable.  Truly!  When Violette starts talking to me in her baby jargon, rattling on with sounds, expressions, and body language to further drive home her point, I can’t help but laugh.

Although we have read books from her infancy, during the last couple of months books have become much more precious to her.  Presently, they are her favorite toys. 

She knows Wiggle Waggle Loop-de-Loo from our Summer Kindermusik Playdate by heart.  She even knows the motions and facial expressions I added.  When she is having an “expressive” moment, declaring her feelings in an angry sonnet, I simply say in a sing-song voice, “Who will do this dance with me, wiggle waggle loop-de-loo?”  She immediately quiets, runs to the book basket and grabs her favorite book.  She starts laughing, swaying side-to-side and “speaking” the words with me, flipping each page as I finish.

Although nothing can ever compare to Wiggle Waggle Loop-de-Loo, she also favors Feathers and This Is My Dance, this semester’s Village books.  In fact, This is My Dance has the honor of helping her form one of her first words – bear. 

(My children didn’t have traditional first words.  My oldest said “fish” before mommy and the second child said “cookie” before mommy.  He is still always hungry!  And for Violette, it was “bear.”  While stringing sounds together when happy, sad or frustrated, “bear” slips in there every once in awhile.)

Using books to help distract or calm your transitional toddler provides a very good learning opportunity.  As you help to develop budding language skills, you also teach another important skill – how to calm down and redirect those very strong opinions.  In a sense, it is a toddler’s version of counting to 10. (We grown-ups call this “self-regulation”.)

I find that after a meltdown, if Violette and I read a book or two, she is much happier and able to function better in her little world.  I know I always function better after a much-needed time out to process and redirect my thoughts!  A good book always provides that lovely escape from reality.

- posted by Miss Jesikah who looks forward to a good book at the end of each day.