Fighting Back

Well, he's found his 'voice' so to speak. Wes has started to retaliate against his brother. In a way, I can see why he's doing it, but I still won't tolerate his behavior.

Since Wes learned to climb up onto our couch, he's staked out the same corner as his spot. Even after we moved to a new home, he still claimed the same corner. It's always the far right side. When we visit others, he jumps on the right side of any couch and starts his head banging. It's so common for us, that we don't even pay attention to it.

Casey has been cruising for a good month now and tends to cruise on over to where his big (and might I add GREAT) brother is sitting. Wes will not stand for an intruder in his space. He has kicked, pushed, and smacked his brother out of his space. He's been given verbal warnings many, many, many times and has even been put in time out when he deliberately does it while looking at Tim or I.

It finally dawned on me why he's so territorial. That's his safety space. It's where he goes when he needs to get away, when he needs to decompress from the day. Well that makes sense! When you want to get away from your mean little brother, you go to your safety space. But it's not so safe when the little bugger can come after you. So I've been working on getting Wes to use his words rather then his feet or hands. It's slow going, but he's starting to understand when I point his finger at Casey and say "get down". He doesn't yet repeat it, but he looks right at Casey with the understanding. Of course Casey doesn't comply so that's where I step in, drag him to the other corner of the room and get him interested in another toy or book. Back to the referee hat I guess.

I hate to punish him for just defending his space, but I still won't tolerate him hurting another person. For that, he will still get a time out.