DS has tolerated his cousin (9 months his senior) scratching his face for pretty much as long as he's been around.
But now DS has started lungeing for our faces and it's becoming quite painful. He seems to be mainly obsessed with our noses (admittedly we both have fairly big ones) and grabs hold of them pretty bl*y hard. It hurts.
To begin with, DH would yell 'OW!' which made DS laugh (inadvertently reinforcing the pinching, I think) but now that it's increased in frequency we've started trying to stop DS. We take his hand away, say that we don't like him pinching, and then pick him up and put him away from us while we perform panto 'gentle' cuddles on the other person (ooer).
Is that the best way to handle it? Should we just pick him up and put him away from us without really saying anything? What does everyone else do? Please tell me it's a short phase!
DS also seems to be experimenting with biting, although I'm not going to label him a biter just yet, and hope it's not becoming a habit (he's only done it 3 or 4 times so far).