Ds is 15months and up to now has been generally very gentle and sweet. He's started getting a little more boisterous the last few weeks which is fine in itself but he's started hitting (not super hard but hard enough I wouldn't want him doing it to any of the kids in his nursery) and he will grab and squeeze us really hard (almost like he's over excited and wants to hug as hard as he can but he's f doing it with his hands instead of his arms if that makes sense). Every time he does it we say no, sign and say 'sore' and redirect him onto something else but I'm wondering if there's anything else we should be doing as it doesn't seem to be landing. For the most part he will giggle and then try to repeat the behaviour and we just try to be really consistent.
Our cat is very patient with him but he's started 'patting' the cat a little too hard. He finds the cat hilarious so any reaction from the cat he finds really funny so we are having to seperate them a lot just so the cat doesn't get too stressed. We try to model 'gentle' a lot with his teddies and toys and with the pets etc.
Anything else people have found helpful? I know it's pretty age appropriate, I just worry about him hurting another child in nursery especially since he's one of the oldest in the baby room now.