Not all days are sunshine and rainbows, even in Florida where we literally have sunshine every single day and rainbows most days after a good rain (i.e. every day in summertime). Henry has unfortunately entered a hitting and kicking phase and it’s driving me crazy! In the past it has just been directed toward me and Keith, which was bad enough, but he had his first instance of hitting at the YMCA Kids Zone on Wednesday. Before this, he was the one being hit, so I guess he decided to model the behavior. Ugh. We told him that he wasn’t being a good friend and the behavior was unacceptable as it made us sad. Yesterday, he seemed to take the discussion to heart, at least at the Y, and no problems were reported. 

When we tried to leave the park last night, he had a major meltdown where he hit and pinched the crap out of Keith’s face. We talked about it hurting us and he understood. So we thought. Unfortunately, this morning has been all about Hen violence. First, he kicked one of the adults at the gym (he apologized, at least). Next, he had a meltdown while leaving the gym where he wrapped his fingers in my hair and pulled. After having another talk about feeling angry and working on breathing and counting to four instead of acting out, we went to the playground where he seemed to get it together until right before we left where he kicked a boy about his age and then had to be carried kicking and screaming into the car where he fought the car seat by pinching my face.

I know it’s a phase, but I feel like such a failure of a parent each time he can’t calm himself down or he lashes out. Transitions from one thing to the next are difficult for him right now; he’ll get the hang of them eventually. Until then, I have to remain calm and breathe (like I’m trying to teach the Hen), even when I’m the one who wants to scream.