Thursday, July 20, 2006

Lord of the Realm

The toddler (almost eighteen months) is developing a serious attitude. I've said before that he was born an alpha male, but it's becoming very evident now. He thinks he's the Lord of the Realm, and he's trying to establish his authority by hitting everyone. In particular he likes to hit his much bigger, five-year-old brother. If someone or something annoys him, he will walk right across the room... and whack his brother. I'm guessing this is an alpha male thing-- he's trying to establish himself as the top dog. It's working, too, because his brother is more of a beta type, and he's terribly intimidated when the toddler comes after him.

I'm working on stopping this behavior. I think we've finally gotten him to quit biting. Last week in Orlando, he started biting pretty hard (he actually made his brother's hand bleed a little) but we chastised him very sharply, and he seems to have given it up for now. Now we just have to work on the hitting.

He's developing a very stubborn streak, too. He saw Daddy every day last week, and he can't understand why Daddy went back to work and isn't around any more. This morning I went into his room, got him up, and started changing him.

"Wherz Daddy?" he asked.

"Daddy's at work. He'll be home later."

"Wherz Daddy?"

"Not here. Daddy went bye-bye."

He seemed to accept that, and I picked him up and carried him down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs he looked around hopefully.

"Daddy? Daddy!"

Eventually he accepted Daddy wasn't home. I got all the kids into the car for a dentist appointment, and off we went. As we pulled into the parking lot, the toddler got very excited.

"Daddy? Daddy?"

"No," I said. "No Daddy."

"Wherz Daddy?"

"Daddy's not here."

I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a look of grim determination on his chubby little face.

"Daddy here," he insisted firmly.

Sigh. Maybe I should go to work for a while and let Daddy stay home...

1 comment:

  1. It will work out. But I'm betting it is easier if the parent is an alpha. LOL Would you classify yourself as an Alpha? Somehow I just don't see it. *grin*

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