Had both girls on my lap for a few minutes today. That is until Teeny Tiny grabbed Middie Biddie's hair and gave it a good tug. There was a bit of a delayed reaction so for a moment I thought I had loosened her grip on the hair fast enough, but then the crying started and confirmed that Teeny Tiny hurt Middie Biddie.
They're at a stage where they really want to explore each other, but doing so means jabs in the eyes, bites on the fingers, and pulls on the hair. Teeny is so excited to see her sister that her hands stretch out in an excited attempt to grab her whenever she's in sight. I want to encourage them to enjoy each other and play together, but they just don't have the coordination to control their movements enough to avoid actively hurting each other. They're still just kind whapping at things and sometimes grabbing. I'm getting scratched on my cheeks and chin because they like to grab my face. But I can't really let them do that to each other too much.
It made me sad to see Middie Biddie cry. I didn't get that hand to loosen up on her hair fast enough. Just made me feel awful. And I feel awful when I have to separate them because someone (usually Middie Biddie) is getting a bit beaten up by the explorations of the other.
My son does the same thing to my daughter (well not hair pulling yet, she doesn't have much to pull at this point). He smiles at her and reaches out and grabs at her anytime he lays next to her. I am practicing telling him to be gentle to her now and try to keep enough distance that they can hold hands, but not get to faces. He gets a hold of my hair and gouges me with his fingernails on a regular basis, so I am quite familiar with how strong he already is. I can only imagine the refereeing we will be doing in the toddler years!
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