The Landry Family Odyssey: More Pictures and Being Tested

There is no doubt that Jack is testing us right now. I'm writing this down to help remind myself later that this too shall pass. I've noticed that behavior challenges tend to come and go. Since Jack turned two, we've had challenging periods which ebb into great periods and so forth. I haven't done much reading on child psychology, but everything I've experienced is telling me that these behaviors stem from a small person trying to figure out who they are and how they fit into the world. I feel that being consistent and loving is the right response. Some days I do better at this than others!

In short, the behavior of the moment is impulsive aggression. All can seem to be well and then Jack will hit or push. At first this seemed to be limited to those of us he's most comfortable with (me, Jacob, and Cora), but in the last two weeks, it has extended to his classmates, friends, and even, this past week, random children on the playground (!!). This particular behavior is hard for me, because, try as I might, I can't quite figure out what's motivating it. It would make more sense if he were provoked, having a bad day, or just not getting a lot of attention, but that's not usually the case. I've been trying to spend extra time with him the last few days and, while his behavior overall has improved, the impulsive hitting has not :(

After visits from Jacob's sister Sara and my mom and aunt, the idea was put out there that maybe this stems from Cora's increasing presence in the family. Now that she crawls, she is very much a part of life and requires more attention. I wonder whether the combination of me having been more busy lately + Cora requiring more attention have led him to be frustrated and this is how he is showing it. (I have a tendency to question what I'm doing to cause changes in behavior.)

Jack is at a great school (Waldorf School of New Orleans) and has really loving, patient teachers, so I'm so happy that he's getting a consistent, calm response there. I'm a lady that must have a plan, so I'm going to put into place some positive behavior incentives this week (thank you education background). I've never done anything organized like this with Jack, but I want to call out the moments when his sweet nature is shining out. Yesterday, I did a scavenger hunt with clues (hid in eggs) that led to a new book. My plan is that I'll let Jack earn plastic eggs all week for great behavior. He then knows that we'll do another scavenger hunt next weekend with Daddy. I have a habit of adding "the biggest ___ in the world" to whatever we're talking about to give it extra umph, so this is going to be "the biggest egg hunt in the world!" He earned an egg this morning because he was being very sweet to Cora, giving her kisses.

Wish us luck and keep him in your prayers as I know it's been a rough few weeks for him too :(

And now to the pictures:

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