Dylan and his attitude

We are encouraging Dylan to begin self-feeding. He has been finger feeding himself bread items and we have added crackers to our repretoire. Dylan will also eat vegetables and fruits such as watermelon or green beans although this has been met with marginal success so far (it depends on his mood). We have also started to allow Dylan to try to feed himself with the spoon. We had great success at first and Dylan loved trying to get his spoon to his mouth. But we have run into an obstacle. It's called an attitude.

When Dylan is in a funk (which has been often lately - some of it due to teething), he has decided that the best thing for his food is to throw it. He will look right at Ray or I, grab some food or spoon, hold his hand over the floor, and then proceed to drop it. We are talking full-on defiance.

This defiance is not limited to food. He also likes to pull hair and scratch faces. Particularly...Mommy's. He will be the sweetest little boy one moment and the next he will forcefully scratch your face. We've tried it all to stop this...grabbing his hand and saying "no" for starters. We also have demonstrated "gentle" on his arm and our face. We've even demonstrated "gentle" on the dogs and stuffed animals. But then he'll smile, give you loves, and then scratch your face once again. Another technique we've used is the "walk-away" method. If he starts to scratch, we will warn him a couple of times. If he does it again, we put him down and walk away ignoring him. This doesn't seem to phase him either. Although we have tried several methods, one thing that hasn't changed is that we are consistent in telling him "no" to this behavior yet he continues.

Today was by far the hardest day. He started scratching Mommy in Fredmeyers and Blockbuster while we were running errands and would not stop. So we left the cart, went to the car, he did it again, and then (admittedly) he got his hand slapped after several warnings and "no's". (We have already tried this a couple of times and even this doesn't deter him.) During today's episode he cried for a minute in the car and when we returned to the store and our shopping, he smiled.....then did it again. Shoot. Now Mommy has a bleeding scratch on her cheek, is mad/frustrated with Dylan, and feels horrible for slapping his hand which doesn't seem to have had any effect on the behavior she was trying to stop.

All we can do is continue to be consistent and hope like many of his other lessons, Dylan will suddenly "get" it. We love our little boy and hopefully, this little lesson will come to pass quickly. Aside from the scratching and sudden food defiance, Dylan really is a great kid. He gives the biggest hugs and kisses you can ever imagine. He also has a smile that is contagious. We'll get over this little hurdle but Mommy sure hopes it will happen soon.