This was a pretty rough month with Will. All of a sudden, out of the blue, he started showing a lot of aggression toward Nora. Part of it could be that shes more mobile than ever and likes to come up and take his toys away, and part of it could be that shes been teething and super grumpy and crying a lot lately (which always upsets him). But hes been hitting her and knocking her down without cause too. She will be sitting there, minding her own business and he just railroads her. After he knocked her down on cement and she got a bump on her head, I decided that something had to be done. Of course my first instinct was to go mama bear on him and drag him away from her. I had to resist that instinct though as I wanted to find something that might discourage him from hurting her while keeping their relationship in good standing. After trying several things I finally came up with something that felt right to me.
I decided I wasn't going to yell or punish, but I couldn't turn a blind eye either. So what I did was that if I was able to prevent a blow, I did it by crouching down between them and telling Will that I would not let him hurt her. If it happened outside of the room and I wasn't there to prevent it (which was most of the time), I would run into the room at Nora's first cry, and I would grab both of Wills shoulders gently and crouch down in front of him so that we could see each others faces, and I would tell him that "the rule in this house is that we do NOT hurt people. Ever!" Then I would take Nora away and comfort her. So each and every time there was an altercation, I would run up and repeat that phrase. After the first day, I didn't say the phrase to him, but I did ask him what the rule was and I would make him tell me that the "rule is don't hurting people! (in his words)." It took a couple of days of vigilance but I noticed that slowly by surely the incidences started to reduce in frequency, and now its been about a week with this strategy and they are back to being pretty rare. I feel like I can leave the room with the two of them in it and there won't be any more incidents (THANK GOD!). I also told Will that if Nora was being a pest and he wanted me to take her away, that he just needed to tell me and I would (and I do as much as is reasonable). So he utilizes that a lot which helps too.
One funny thing that's come of this, is that Nora learned to preemptively cry. So if Will comes up to her in a menacing way at all, she will just start crying, even though no physical violence has been perpetrated. So if I run in there, nothing has happened but she gives the impression that it has. Little stinker! I have a feeling she is going to be one annoying little sister at times! As the eldest of my family, I feel for Will haha!
This month hasn't all been bad though. The other day he did something really cute. We were visiting a new
playground, and it was a really big one, about the length of a football
field. At one end was all of the play structures, and at the other end
was a little garden meant for kids. After getting bored of the play
structures, Will decided that he wanted to check out the garden part. So
he runs out, his legs moving just as fast as they can. I watched as he
wandered around the garden, checking everything out. Then about 5
minutes later I hear him yell "mom!" As I watched, he started running as
fast as he could, and was yelling "mom" every 5 seconds or so (mind you
hes about 50 yards away at this point so it took him a while to reach
me). Finally he reached my side of the play ground and came up and held a
flower out and said, "flower for yoooouuuu!" Then he gave me a hug and
went over to play on the play structure again. It was the sweetest thing
ever!
All of a sudden about a couple of weeks ago, he
made up his mind that he wanted to be potty trained. It started about a
week after we moved into the new house. It was not ideal timing but I
decided to just go with it. Out of the blue he stopped peeing in his
diaper (except at nap and night time) during the day and started using
the toilet. He even refused to use the little potty we bought him and
instead insisted on using the big potty (with a seat insert so he
doesn't fall in). On the 2nd day of him being totally dry all day long, I
bought pull ups and a stool and taught him how to take himself to the
potty. On day 3 I felt confidant enough to put him in big boy undies.
For 4 days he did great. He took himself whenever he needed to go, and
even remembered when he was in the middle of a play date, which really
impressed me! It was too easy. On day 5 he started having some accidents
and on day 6 he asked to have his diaper back. Now it kind of varies by
the day. Some days hes keeps his pull up dry all day and others he
never uses the potty once. Also he still won't poop in the potty and
will only do so in a diaper, so that will need a bit of work, but we are
getting there. So its 2 steps forward, 1 step back these days. I am in
no rush and am now confidant that when he is ready, he will just fully
train rapidly. Time will tell though.
He is very into playing with cars and trucks right now. He has such an imagination. His favorite thing is to transform a regular car or truck into a different car or truck. For instance he will transform his fire truck into either a car carrier (by loading it up with smaller cars) or a bucket truck (by placing a small box on top of its ladder). He will transform his matchbox cars into tow trucks and his logging truck into a tow truck or a flatbed truck. He knows all the names of all the big heavy equipment trucks you see around town and will often correct me when I am wrong. He lives to spot and point out big trucks going by down the road! I find myself getting excited to pass a bulldozer or an excavator as I know how thrilled he will be to see them. I never knew before having a boy, how much I would learn about trucks and tools! Hes the same way with Michael's tools too. He knows all the names better than I do and loves to inspect and try out each and every one in Michael's box (to Michael's chagrin).
Sad to say, though there were lots of good moments in this month, for the most part it was a really tough one. Its always stressful to move and it impacted all of us negatively, and I'm sure both kids can sense that the adults in their lives are stressed, which doesn't help matters any. I am hoping that now that most of the unpacking has finished and a lot of the house projects (like hanging shelves and decor, painting the garage and installing closets) are starting to be wrapped up, we will all be able to relax a little more and feel more at home and at peace!
This was a pretty rough month with Will. All of a sudden, out of the blue, he started showing a lot of aggression toward Nora. Part of it could be that shes more mobile than ever and likes to come up and take his toys away, and part of it could be that shes been teething and super grumpy and crying a lot lately (which always upsets him). But hes been hitting her and knocking her down without cause too. She will be sitting there, minding her own business and he just railroads her. After he knocked her down on cement and she got a bump on her head, I decided that something had to be done. Of course my first instinct was to go mama bear on him and drag him away from her. I had to resist that instinct though as I wanted to find something that might discourage him from hurting her while keeping their relationship in good standing. After trying several things I finally came up with something that felt right to me. 
I decided I wasn't going to yell or punish, but I couldn't turn a blind eye either. So what I did was that if I was able to prevent a blow, I did it by crouching down between them and telling Will that I would not let him hurt her. If it happened outside of the room and I wasn't there to prevent it (which was most of the time), I would run into the room at Nora's first cry, and I would grab both of Wills shoulders gently and crouch down in front of him so that we could see each others faces, and I would tell him that "the rule in this house is that we do NOT hurt people. Ever!" Then I would take Nora away and comfort her. So each and every time there was an altercation, I would run up and repeat that phrase. After the first day, I didn't say the phrase to him, but I did ask him what the rule was and I would make him tell me that the "rule is don't hurting people! (in his words)." It took a couple of days of vigilance but I noticed that slowly by surely the incidences started to reduce in frequency, and now its been about a week with this strategy and they are back to being pretty rare. I feel like I can leave the room with the two of them in it and there won't be any more incidents (THANK GOD!). I also told Will that if Nora was being a pest and he wanted me to take her away, that he just needed to tell me and I would (and I do as much as is reasonable). So he utilizes that a lot which helps too.
One funny thing that's come of this, is that Nora learned to preemptively cry. So if Will comes up to her in a menacing way at all, she will just start crying, even though no physical violence has been perpetrated. So if I run in there, nothing has happened but she gives the impression that it has. Little stinker! I have a feeling she is going to be one annoying little sister at times! As the eldest of my family, I feel for Will haha! 
This month hasn't all been bad though. The other day he did something really cute. We were visiting a new
playground, and it was a really big one, about the length of a football
field. At one end was all of the play structures, and at the other end
was a little garden meant for kids. After getting bored of the play
structures, Will decided that he wanted to check out the garden part. So
he runs out, his legs moving just as fast as they can. I watched as he
wandered around the garden, checking everything out. Then about 5
minutes later I hear him yell "mom!" As I watched, he started running as
fast as he could, and was yelling "mom" every 5 seconds or so (mind you
hes about 50 yards away at this point so it took him a while to reach
me). Finally he reached my side of the play ground and came up and held a
flower out and said, "flower for yoooouuuu!" Then he gave me a hug and
went over to play on the play structure again. It was the sweetest thing
ever!
He is very into playing with cars and trucks right now. He has such an imagination. His favorite thing is to transform a regular car or truck into a different car or truck. For instance he will transform his fire truck into either a car carrier (by loading it up with smaller cars) or a bucket truck (by placing a small box on top of its ladder). He will transform his matchbox cars into tow trucks and his logging truck into a tow truck or a flatbed truck. He knows all the names of all the big heavy equipment trucks you see around town and will often correct me when I am wrong. He lives to spot and point out big trucks going by down the road! I find myself getting excited to pass a bulldozer or an excavator as I know how thrilled he will be to see them. I never knew before having a boy, how much I would learn about trucks and tools! Hes the same way with Michael's tools too. He knows all the names better than I do and loves to inspect and try out each and every one in Michael's box (to Michael's chagrin).
Sad to say, though there were lots of good moments in this month, for the most part it was a really tough one. Its always stressful to move and it impacted all of us negatively, and I'm sure both kids can sense that the adults in their lives are stressed, which doesn't help matters any. I am hoping that now that most of the unpacking has finished and a lot of the house projects (like hanging shelves and decor, painting the garage and installing closets) are starting to be wrapped up, we will all be able to relax a little more and feel more at home and at peace!
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