We haven't had as many negative issues with Anthony lately compared to other periods.  I think part of that can be attributed to understanding better how to deal with him when he does show signs of aggression; for instance, we have learned when he wants to engage us, it is best to ignore him--including not looking at him, even as he tries to hurt us--and get him into his room as quickly as possible where he can create more holes in the walls if need be.  But I also wonder about the role puberty has played in his aggression, and think that as he gets older, perhaps some of that is subsiding naturally (I can always hope!).

However, some days are of course worse than others, and we wish we could tell what the underlying issues were to keep things on an even keel.  Today he went to our family room and took several DVD's out of the cases; that isn't terribly unusual, but it does seem to happen when he gets in certain moods.  He also helped himself to three bananas.  I am rather certain that it would have been more, except that we ran out of bananas.  Then later when we were at a family gathering at my parents' house, my sister was trying with little success to get her son to obey her, when Anthony got upset at that--he has a history of getting angry when anyone is being scolded, for some reason--and pushed the nearest chair into the table.  Unfortunately, his young cousin was sitting in the chair at the time, and he hurt her arms in so doing.  He wasn't intending to hurt her, but his action had that effect all the same.  I apologized to both my sister and my niece.  They both understand about Anthony, but they aren't used to being directly affected by him (and shouldn't have to be).  My wife and I agreed that we should probably have our younger son sit nearest Anthony in such circumstances so an unsuspecting child--who can't anticipate the situation--doesn't have to suffer because of him.