And everything's gotten just a little worse recently. She's a little more combative. [Related story: We have a gospel-centered Quiet Book for church. There is a page on the Lamanites burying their weapons of war. I glance over at my kids on Sunday to see Babs "fighting" Kiddo into the corner with her 3 inch felt spear, and Kiddo trying to protect herself with her felt shield. We pulled Babs away, and took her weapons too.] She's a little more running. And she's spending a lot of time in time-out.
In response, we've been praying: How do we direct this precious little girl, protect her big sister, and help her interact appropriately with the family?
I don't know. But the first thing that happened was I remembered a question I asked often when Kiddo was this age, and I thought I was experiencing parental angst with some of her choices. I often asked: how much of this needs to be corrected, and how much of this needs to be lived through because she'll outgrow it?
And yesterday I had another light bulb. The majority of this behavior is about having fun. There is nothing she loves more than a good laugh, and a good tease. Playing with toys is so much more fun than eating. Pushing your sister might make her chase you, which is fun (but not very smart, because Kiddo rarely chases, she usually just wails). Yet some of the behavior is just plain bad, stemming from frustration of not getting her own way.
So mostly we just hope that eventually, we'll get through this. Either she'll grow up some, or we'll finally convince her that our rules and expectations are not unreasonable, even if they don't exactly match what she wants to do.
