And a new one: head banging.
Mark started banging their heads together and laughing, which Mac thought was hilarious. That translated over to when he accidentally bonks his head on something; usually he'll pause, furrow his brows, and then hit it again on purpose. It was funny, but then it spilled over to his tantrums.
I was taking a shower the other day, and he was playing nicely ... for a bit. Then something made him mad and he started banging his head on the door. That made him more mad, so he lay down on the tile bathroom floor and continued to hit his head. I kept telling him to stop stop stop! So he came over to the shower and hit his head on the sliding shower door. Quickly I finished up, turned off the shower, and opened the door. I knelt down and said, "Mac, you cannot hit your head like that." He puckered his bottom lip, head-banged me, and then wrapped his little arms around my neck.
Good grief.
On the upside of all these frustrations, we have discovered that food (fruit especially) will stop any degree of tantrum. Also the song "Generator" by Freelance Whales makes him laugh mid-squawk. Baby Einstein's Neighborhood Animals still works wonders, and "Ooey Gooey" and "Popcorn Popping" generally distract him quite well.
But I think I will start time-outs. I don't want to turn into one of those parents who constantly bribe their child to be nice ... wish me luck.
Oh gosh! Nicholas went through a head-banging phase a month or two ago and it was terrible! He would get angry, hit his head on ANYTHING (tile floor included), and then start screaming because it hurt and he was mad....it was so frustrating for all of us!
ReplyDeleteLuckily, he's mostly grown out of that now. (and moved on to hitting and biting. Joy.) :D
Time outs have worked VERY well for us, though, so I hope you have success!
Macys fangs are going up and down. I wish they'd just pop through so we can all be happy again. She doesn't do a lot of tantrums, but she has a nose fettish. She packed so many little pieces of pretzels up her nose the other day. It took me 20 minutes of holding her head between my knees and digging the lodged pieces out with my tweezers! An hour later I gave her a little cashew and she didn't even hesitate. Right up the nose. My children are strange.
ReplyDeleteOk, I am so relieved my child isn't the only one! For the past month or so, when he wants to show he's mad at us, he bangs his head on anything and everything. Then he'll look at us and say "bonk." We were so worried at first that he was going to have brain damage or something! :) But lately we've been trying to ignore it because I swear he does it just to get a reaction. It hasn't stopped completely but he doesn't seem to do it as much. Now he's moved on to full-out slapping (especially me, in the face!) and I'm not quite sure how to handle this one!
ReplyDelete