I have a 21mo and 3mo. Toddler mostly seems to adore her baby sister and loves being near her / helping with nappies / lying down next to her. We encourage her to do gentle stroking or pats if she does want to touch. However, the past week she has started trying to hit or roughly grab DD2 by the face. Today it has got really bad and she seems to be doing it every chance she gets. She’ll start off being gentle and then suddenly just go for her. She was also doing this to her grandparents dog today too.
I have been swiftly removing her from the situation and very sternly saying NO! YOU DO NOT HURT YOUR SISTER/DOG etc. But she just seems to find it funny and often will start grabbing at my face or biting me and laughing,
I try to really praise her when she is gentle and show her how to be gentle all the time.
HELP!!! Is this normal? Am I doing the right thing? What should I be doing?
Im starting to feel so tense everytime she comes near me when I have DD2, and I feel awful about it.