Starting to Fit In

Jeremie diggin' it on one of the toys.  a "Cameon," which he could not quite figure out how to steer properly.

Too many toys have been a source of conflict between sibling rivals.  Alexi, as our only child, has not been to comfortable sharing some of his toys.  Inevitable then has been conflicts.  They are especially pronounced on toys that are inherently hard to share.  The above car is one example.  We had to remove the rig out of sight, as Jeremie became too obsessed with it. 

Jeremie is in huge emotional turmoil.  The information overload has shown itself in quite a few tantrums.  But Jeremie, at heart, appears to have a sweet side.  What we have to work thru with him is some very bad habits.  Think about what might happen without much adult supervision in an orphanage.  It would have been quite a harsh learning environment.  Jeremie's only tool he knows for resolving conflicts - his fists.  Alexi is such a sweet boy, it has been quite upsetting to him to experience this approach.  We keep telling Alexi that one of his duties as older brother is to teach Jeremie how to behave and to teach Jeremie to use his words, not his fists. 

All in all, it could be much worse and the attachement is progressing. Jeremie looks to his  mommy or daddy when unsure. He seems to like our approval. He is starting to respects us, somewhat, upon the disapprovals when he breaks the rules. Monitored timeouts are working well, so far.