My Pretty Little Girl's a Hitter?

Most people who see Kara see this adorable, sweet, sometimes shy little girl with a beautiful row of blonde curls on her head. And she is all of those things. But there is a devious, slightly dark side to her that has begun to emerge. Maybe it's part of being almost two years old, maybe it's being the second child, maybe it's just being a girl, but it's definitely there...and it's a little scary. John's such a boy that his emotions and motives are pretty much at the surface and always have been. Kara has already started being way more manipulative than John is even now. It's interesting to watch their sibling dynamics at work. Particularly so for me, since although I have a half-brother who is 8+ years older and grew up a universe away from me, I pretty much lived most of my young life as an only child. I have very little of my own experience to draw on when it comes to dealing with sibling issues. It's going to make life very interesting, complicated, and confusing for me down the road, no doubt!

But, back to the hitting thing...Kara has definitely been giving John some good hits lately. Sometimes it's her fist, sometimes it's a toy, sometimes it's a shoe. Whatever she has nearby, if she's miffed at him (or even me, occasionally) for anything she'll walk over and give a good hit. I'm always surprised when she does it, but I guess by now I shouldn't be. I remember that John went through a period of giving us head butts when he was about this age, maybe a little younger. It seemed like we were better at getting that problem under control and eliminated than we have been with Kara. Probably because, even I can admit, sometimes John does deserve to be hit by her! He's constantly provoking her, yelling/screeching at her, and swiping things out of her hands. Which then follows with me constantly telling him to stop, leave her alone, move away from her, share with her, and give her that back. Ugh. It's no wonder she wants to take a swing at him now and again.

But most of the time, she's still my sweet little girl.