The terrible ones?

As we approach the big 0-1 next week, you can't help but notice how much more lively Dylan gets every day. Especially since said liveliness generally results in bruises and scratches...

That's right. The littlest Schnegg has turned into a big fat bully. Temper tantrums and hitting/slapping/scratching/pinching/hair-pulling/spitting abound. It's fun times, man. Up until this week, I was the sole target for his outrage. Now his dad gets to join in the fun, too. (We'll find out tomorrow if grandma also gets a few badges of honor.)

At times I seriously wonder if we're going through the terrible twos a year early. I mean, we started stranger anxiety 6 months before the average, so perhaps we're just accelerating the curve...would make up for the lack of progress on every other developmental front, I suppose.

So my little anti puller-upper has learned to express his frustration in inappropriate ways. If we're not understanding what he wants or if he can't get to an object he wants, he starts beating the crap out of something. If you get close to him, said beating is transferred to you - generally in the region of your face. If you pick him up (say to put him in his high chair for lunch) and take him away from a toy he's interested in, you'd better be prepared for the flurry o' fists heading your way.

Then there are the playful ones, where he's just playing along and you invade his personal space and get rewarded with the "surprise slap" right in the face.

Spitting has also become a favorite pastime - both in the form of spitting out food at random (often when he's full, although I don't understand why he can't just not open his mouth if he's full...) or just spitting onto the floor so that he can paint in the spit puddle. It's a lovely habit. I'm trying to ignore both at the moment in the hopes that a lack of reaction will suck all the fun out of it. It's not working so far, but I will perservere.

Worst remains pre-bedtime. Whoever is holding him for the pre-bedtime winddown usually ends up with at least a few scratches. He's quite viscious. Right now we're applying baby time-out. Not really, but whenever he hits a toy (Elmo is most often the target) - the toy gets set out of reach because "Elmo can't play with you if you hurt him." If he hits one of us, we stand up and walk away to ignore him because "mommy/daddy can't play with you if you hurt us." The ignoring generally drives him crazy and he starts throwing tantrums. Crosses his legs, stiffens his arms and does this totally fake little cry. At some point I'll finally manage to get one of the outbursts on camera.

At bedtime we lay him in his crib as soon as he hits, this time just with a simple, "good night." Funnily enough, he doesn't seem to mind that. Half the time I think he abuses us at bedtime just so we'll put him in his crib faster. Downside to this one is that it usually takes him quite a bit longer to fall asleep since we aren't putting him down drowsy. *sigh*

As we approach the one-year mark and enter the nebulous territory of discipline I'm wondering if we didn't perhaps provoke things a bit with all of our, "we got the easiest baby" talk...Oops.