Toddler and Baby

sschwege

DD did great with having a new baby brother, would often tell me, "I'm glad Noah is here."  Three months ago I started caring for a seven month old in our home and again she did great, considers him part of the family.  There have been a lot of changes for her recently, three months ago she decided she was done with diapers (did great), transitioned to a big girl bed (a little bumpy, but not bad), decided she was done sitting in her Tripp Trapp chair and now sits in an adult chair, etc.  So A LOT of changes over the past seven months.  Anyway, I have noticed lately that she starts out being affectionate with the babies, but then sometimes she will keep pushing it till it gets to the point of hurting them.  For example the other day I was giving a bottle to the boy I care for while reading her a book.  She was stroking his hair while I read to her and then she started pulling his hair making him cry.  I asked her how that made him feel and she said, 'sad' and apologized and tried to make him feel better by stroking his hair again (this time gently).  Another time I was playing Memory with her (she had my undivided attention this time), Noah was sitting near her playing with other various toys and she started rolling back into him.  Not strong enough to knock him over, but it could have.  When I told her 'gentle, gentle, he's a little guy' she curled up into a ball and said, "I'm sad because I can't play with Noah".  These are just two examples, but she probably does something like this once a day or so.  It would be one thing if she was doing it for attention, but a lot of time she does it when she has my attention or at least some of my attention.  It kind of seems like she's trying to see at what point gentle touches become not so gentle or something.  I don't know, thoughts?

cmhicklin

It's probably a combination of testing limits, and wanting to play at her level.

kgs0505

I agree.  Both testing limits, and being 2yo and wanting to play like she would with a peer.  She has these two other kids around all the time, but they are mostly off limits and not as fun to play with yet.