Well, that about says it all. ds (3 yrs) and dd (17 mos) were in dd's room yesterday afternoon, playing with toys, etc., and dh and I hear dd wail. We walk to her door to see ds saying, "It's okay Emma! Are you okay Emma?", and I ask what happened. He jumps up (he'd had his back to us), runs out of her room, stands in the hallway and says, "I kicked her on her back." DH takes him by the hand and leads him to his bedroom and says, "Why don't you cool off in your room." We take dd out to the kitchen because in the interim she did the HUGE silent breath in before screaming her head off, and she keeps touching her face. I can't see anything, DH can't see anything, nor can we find a mark on her back, and so we just figure it's one of those sibling things and ds got a little too hot and forgot to use his words (even though we've really been struggling with hitting and kicking lately). After a few minutes though, this black line appears on her face, next to her nose, and I bet her teeth REALLY hurt. DH and I go back into ds's room, and I say, "What did you hit Emma with?" He says, "The bucket", meaning a large nesting container. 
We tell him he's going to need to stay in his room for awhile and DH takes dd outside with the dog to get some fresh air. Meanwhile, I'm fuming because I can't believe ds is so vicious with her, and even though I know she's no angel, I still can't believe he hit her in the face that hard! I know, I know, he's THREE! I need to take a breath! Eventually he comes out and I tell him he needs to stay in his room until dinner time (it's about 4:45 at this point). He goes back to his room and promptly falls asleep.
Here're some of my theories. He was way too tired, even though he'd given up naps over the summer (I work for a school and the kids sleep in later during the summer)...this last Thursday was his last day at daycare and he has some anxiety about that--as much as he is able to understand that concept anyway--he also started attending a new preschool program yesterday, and I'm SURE that created some anxiety. And then there's just plain ole sibling rivalry, and he has good reason to feel jealous of her--she's had some medical issues that have had both DH's family and my family oohing and ah-ing all over her for more than a year and I'm sure it hurts him even though DH and I have tried to combat it--and he told me today, in a very ashamed voice that, "I just don't like Emma, Mama."
I don't really expect him to, she took his place as baby after all, but at that same time, hitting others is simply unacceptable to me! Although I do think he saw that he'd crossed the line and was trying to fix it by asking her if she was okay. On the other hand, we went to a birthday party today, and he picked up a blown up ball and threw it at a little girl's head! And he has good aim! Luckily it didn't hurt her, and she didn't even really seem to notice, but I was completely mortified by his aggression!
Advice, suggestions, anything! welcome! Thanks.
Leah
We tell him he's going to need to stay in his room for awhile and DH takes dd outside with the dog to get some fresh air. Meanwhile, I'm fuming because I can't believe ds is so vicious with her, and even though I know she's no angel, I still can't believe he hit her in the face that hard! I know, I know, he's THREE! I need to take a breath! Eventually he comes out and I tell him he needs to stay in his room until dinner time (it's about 4:45 at this point). He goes back to his room and promptly falls asleep.Here're some of my theories. He was way too tired, even though he'd given up naps over the summer (I work for a school and the kids sleep in later during the summer)...this last Thursday was his last day at daycare and he has some anxiety about that--as much as he is able to understand that concept anyway--he also started attending a new preschool program yesterday, and I'm SURE that created some anxiety. And then there's just plain ole sibling rivalry, and he has good reason to feel jealous of her--she's had some medical issues that have had both DH's family and my family oohing and ah-ing all over her for more than a year and I'm sure it hurts him even though DH and I have tried to combat it--and he told me today, in a very ashamed voice that, "I just don't like Emma, Mama."
I don't really expect him to, she took his place as baby after all, but at that same time, hitting others is simply unacceptable to me! Although I do think he saw that he'd crossed the line and was trying to fix it by asking her if she was okay. On the other hand, we went to a birthday party today, and he picked up a blown up ball and threw it at a little girl's head! And he has good aim! Luckily it didn't hurt her, and she didn't even really seem to notice, but I was completely mortified by his aggression!Advice, suggestions, anything! welcome! Thanks.
Leah
).
