Tate is struggling in his role as middle child. He's not old enough to do everything that Cole does, but he's not the baby anymore either. I knew he would have problems adjusting, I just didn't expect them to occur 2 months in. I know he needs more attention from me, but there is a limited amount of me to go around. He's taken to throwing some pretty extreme fits to show me how much he needs my attention. I tried some different things, time out spots, putting him in his room, but the fits only got worse. He tried hitting, kicking, running away, and I was afraid he was going to hurt someone on accident. Then we came to a head. A couple of weeks ago he was so worked up over something that he threw his rock collection across the kitchen floor. Then he tried to throw a toy combine at me. I didn't know what to do. It's one thing to hit and kick and hurt someone when you really aren't trying to, but he knew that would hurt. I was at a loss. So I turned to my sister who gave me a different tactic to try. Now instead of isolating him when he's mad, I become a human straight jacket. I cross my legs over his so he can't kick and I bind his arms so he can't hit. We aren't out of the woods yet, but we are progressing. The other night he was throwing a fit about getting his pajamas on. After about 10 minutes of the "calm down body bind" he finally blurted out "I don't want Shelby here anymore!" My heart just broke when he said that. Poor kid.
He is a good kid. He's a fun kid when he's not throwing a fit. He came down this morning sporting this little gem:
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