Punchy

SWF, enjoys food, costumes, fisticuffs.

File this under "Things you never think of before you have two kids." Soen has been having a hard time distinguishing between "she" and "her." He says "her" for everything, as in "Her is going outside." 90% of the time the "her" in question is his sister and I just correct him. But lately it's gotten more complicated because he's usually telling us that Sadie is doing something we wouldn't approve of. And then I'm stuck with trying to decide whether to correct his grammar or address the problem first. If I correct Sadie's behavior, it's then hard to get back to the grammatical error in question, especially since Soen usually wants to talk about the finer points of Sadie's indiscretion. This often leads to rather bizarre conversations like this exchange...
Soen: Her hit me.
Me: SHE hit me.

This of course brings me to the real subject of this post: Sadie's new violent streak.

While I wouldn't go as far as to say "we're concerned," it has become a bit of a problem lately. Sadie now resorts to punching whenever she gets mad. She punches Soen, us, inanimate objects, or even--if nothing else is available--herself. It's gotten to the point when all it takes to get socked from our daughter is a simple "no." As in, "No, Sadie, you can't play with knives." WHAM! Right in the kisser. (Well, more accurately, it's more like a light slap on your knee.)

While--on paper--it may be funny to see such a cute little girl punch anyone who crosses her, we certainly don't take it lightly, and she gets disciplined and put into time out. (Usually, we get punched a few times as we're carrying her over to the T.O. chair.) I think she gets frustrated since she doesn't have much of a vocabulary to express her rage at the injustice of it all. (Then again, who does?)

Meanwhile we are struggling to reign her in, which is why the next time Soen said "Her hit me," I replied with the much more sensible: "Maybe you shouldn't put your face within her reach."