Baby Bunching--toddler style

Last summer I wrote alot about what it is like to have "2 under 2" or baby bunched kids.  The first 5 months were incredibly rough, but things got a bit easier after Liam turned 2 when I had to turn in my "2 under 2" status and just use the baby bunching status. 

About 2 months ago, Liam and Ben suddenly became great friends and I was beginning to re-think my stance on baby bunching (for the record, my stance is DON'T DO IT if you value your sanity and marriage...and it hasn't changed).  This friendship made for some great photo opportunities.

Unfortunately, things change quickly in a household with two babies, and we are no longer feeling brotherly love here. Ben is really a toddler now--not just walking, but running, jumping, dancing, talking, and yelling "mine" ALL.THE.TIME.  Neither Liam nor I are pleased with the replacement of our sweet, flirty baby Ben with a fiesty, opinionated, grabby toddler. Liam is expressing his discontent with pushing baby Ben.  He goes to time out approximately 5 times a day for pushing, and most of those are after a 3 count pushing offense (he gets 3 pushes before a time out, unless the push is particularly malicious).  But there are pushes I don't see, and times Liam simply head butts Ben or slyly pushes him. There are times he pushes Ben when Ben giggles and grabs Liam'shair, so I feel it is unreasonable to punish Liam.  If I did put Liam in time out for all pushing, I am not sure he'd ever leave it.

Ben has started stealing Liam's favorite toys (his Thomas trains, his cars, his Tomas magnets, his favorite stuffed animals) and yelling "MINE!"  Sometimes Ben just hold his hands over Liam's things and giggles when Liam cries.  Ben has started pulling Liam's hair, kicking him, or slapping his face.

I had about a month where I allowed them to ride side by side in grocery store race car shopping carts, but I am back to wearing Ben for everyone's safety and sanity.

Everyone said that the first 2 years of baby bunching are the hardest, somaybe it will be better in another year? Or maybe at least one of them will be potty trained, so I am not chaning 5 poopy diapers a day.  That idea seems like heaven right now.