The dominance behavior that a 2.5 year old boy can display is just astounding. Behavior w/ me present vs. just my wife is quite different. And I really don't try to encourage it either.
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It isn't just the boys...
My daughter is a nightmare for the wife.
It's not only dominance. Mothers are bonded closest, so suffer worst violation of boundaries.
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Oh yeah, she gets that latter one too. Plus, he's pretty violent (but in a usual overactive toddler way, not a "we're concerned" way), and I can take anything he dishes out during e.g. a tantrum, while my wife cannot.
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Yeah...
The kid is no stranger to kicking us in the face, repeatedly. I (usually) hold her legs or turn her away. Wife gets ANGRY.
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Our son has my reflexes and strength (I'm a big guy and can be very quick), so he has caught my wife in the face or elsewhere plenty of times. I usually dodge and then *grab*. Was a short period where I had to use my legs and arms to pin him on the floor to change diapers.
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The daughter had a phase like that. Now she's moved on to trying to change her diapers herself, which is fun.
There was that incident with the poop-stained hands, but...