Tuesday 14 January 2014

Bud Bites Back...

Thanks to our very generous family and friends Rosie has been well and truly spoiled again this Christmas time. She has plenty of new books and a whole array of new toys to help her move on with her development. Karen reminded me that last year Rosie's favourite present was a silver scouring pad!  The sensory engagement was great as it glistened and it's rough prickly texture kept her fascinated for weeks. It shows how far she's come in a year though as her play is so much more advanced. Bud now enjoys the challenge of shape sorting, basic jigsaws and even mothering her new baby. To be honest she hasn't quite grasped the shapes and jigsaws yet but she's having great fun trying – As long as we keep heaping the praise on when she's successful I'm confident she won't give up trying.

In less positive news Rosie's behaviour has taken a sharp turn and not for the better! The clue lies in the title of this post – 'Bud Bites Back'…shoulders, arms whatever's in reach! Over the past three to four weeks Karen has been left black and blue from Bud bites and all of us at some point this weekend felt the swipe of Rosie's right hook as she attacked our faces grabbing and smacking. It's as if she gets overcome with excitement that she channels her energies into lashing out as a means for release. At one point she brought Joe to tears after throwing a toy train which struck him on the lip – rather than showing her usual remorse (like crying herself) she tried her hardest to charm her way out of trouble by giggling and laughing (see last photo below to get a feel for what we're dealing with here), very cute yes, however we are determined not to cave into her 'butter wouldn't melt ways' as they will only make her more and more mischievous and I guess (as with any child) all the harder to control her behaviour later on in life. Is it frustration perhaps? Is she suddenly struggling with communication? We are not sure but obviously hope it subsides soon.

Karen has been busy the last few days teaching Rosie a very basic but important skill for someone who cannot walk or fully support herself unaided – how to safely get down from the couch! She is slowly mastering it but we still need to be on guard as there are moments where she'll forget and will quite happily attempt to shuffle off the edge face first!







8 comments:

  1. How could that face (in the last pic in particular) be a little nipper! lol x Glad you had a wonderful xmas, sorry to hear you've had a few behavioural probs, biting is particularly painful even when they're tiny! Hope it's more of a phase xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! Yes certainly hope it's a short phase too as it's getting painful! Hope you had a good CHristmas too :) x

    ReplyDelete
  3. That face is adorable. It's infectious - had me beaming. Hope she grows out of her biting soon :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy New Year and lovely to hear about beautiful Rosie again and your family.

    Funny (as in the interesting sense, I'm sure it's not funny for you at home) to read about Rosie's behaviour, my youngest, also a third child, has similar habits (at home only), he is quite spoilt being the youngest, his older brothers adore him and think it's all cute, it's hard because his reactions were like Rosie's too, trying to charm his way out - we were pretty strict with it and I told the older boys not to laugh either - which wasn't hard when he got a really good bite in - he would even get a whack in at the dog sometimes. It's gotten much better - started around 3 years and although it does still happen (he's now 3.3) it is much less often - we're pretty consequent about not letting it go unpunished, but it's hard going sometimes heh, one is not sure how to react. I know Rosie is younger than my son (at least I think, or?) but it might be a 3rd (really cute child) sort of thing ??? (not trying to offer an answer here (are there really any good answers) just saying you guys are not alone, funnily enough now that I come to think of it the only person who was spared any of this was my husband.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oooh, we know this biting, hitting phase well. Happy to say Theo, our now 4 year old son (with DS), has outgrown it. But when he was about 2, he got so excited having a kiss fest with Grandma that he bit her cheek so hard he drew blood!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yay Rosie on the sofa abseiling! And in all honesty Natty used to push and hit and I can truly say she did it just to see the facial expressions and emotional response. She adored saying sorry and giving a hug after. So we all agreed to say 'I don't like it when you do that' and TURN AWAY. Her face would drop, baffled at being ignored. She stopped eventually. Be rest assured it is a phase. H x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ah yes Henry went through a biting phase and given his height often dangerously close to the family jewels! I think you're right in your approach though, don't over react but make it clear it's not acceptable.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Only just read this post but we can totally relate to the scratching and hitting too. It really does hurt doesn't it. She also pulls Ava's hair very hard (her big sister) and often it ends up in tears from Ava! Elsie just smiles so she must do it when she's excited or just to see the reaction on our faces. Sounds very similar to Rosie! We try to look sad and say & sign a big NO. Hoping its just a phase like you say?!

    Emma and Steve

    ReplyDelete