This was the first really challenging month in fatherhood. Shayna has entered a tantrum phase and, well, it's not a lot of fun. If she doesn't get what she wants (or often for no reason at all) she'll throw herself backwards and cry like the world is coming to an end. As with all parenting information, there's two schools of thought on what to do when this happens. Our pediatrician believes that you need to ignore the kid and it'll break the habit. Others believe you need to try and get the kid over the tantrum since they're frustrated that they can't properly communicate what's wrong. I fall somewhere in the middle. At first, we ignored Shayna's tantrums and she would snap out of them pretty quickly. However, there's been a few where she gets herself so worked up it's no longer an act. Her crying turns into the most intense sniveling I've ever heard and she inevitably has snot all over her face and hair. This is generally when I break. If not then, it's when she bangs her head on the ground. We have wooden floors so the noise is like a kick to my stomach every time it happens. The doctor says that the kids won't do it if it actually hurts them. But every time she does it I picture her college dreams going from Harvard to, well, a school that doesn't require you to know how to spell Harvard.
Shayna's day care has canceled school a few times this past month which means I've had her to myself during the day. Don't get me wrong, I love having Shayna all to myself but when she throws a tantrum I wish to god I could have a nanny delivered to my door in thirty minutes or less.
The other day I picked up Shayna from school and one of her classmates was having a terrible tantrum. The teacher said she had been crying nonstop for an hour. I'm clearly a terrible person because I started to smile when she said this. It's nice to know Shayna's not the only one.
Now all that said, when Shayna's not busy being a head banger, it's been tons of fun. A week ago I showed up at school and Shayna immediately stood up and walked to me. It was awesome. Even more awesome is that I got to see her walk before Huyen!
