Had a major mom win this week

My 16 month old has been learning more and more words. With this comes a lot of joy for all of us as she can communicate better and for her, it also comes with a good amount of frustration when there are things she still can’t quite communicate clearly.This trial and error has led to an increase in tantrums this last month. Tantrums that involve flailing her arms/smacking things indiscriminately and screaming.Well recently we taught her how to high five and count to 3 and I had an idea earlier this week during one of her tantrums. I put out my hand for a high five and instead of smacking the air or me, she focused on high fives instead.Once her arms chilled out we counted to three, taking a deep breath after each number. And... the tantrum stopped. She was all smiles and was incredibly proud of her counting!I’m so happy we found something that works (for now) and it also helped me stay calm and not get overwhelmed which was an absolute win-win. And it’s really clicked! Now when she starts getting frustrated she runs to me and pulls up my hand so she can give me high fives and repeats 1, 2, 3 on her own.With baby number two only two short months away, I’m so grateful we were able to find a good and constructive way for her to cope with these big emotions before her sister is here.Now to work on getting her to help me pick up her toys... via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2ZsLZSW