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Most terrifying hurdle for Minifobette yet.
She's started engaging in self-injury. It began with one small cut on her face about 6 months ago. She kept picking at it, and it took 2-3 months to heal properly (there is still a mark from it even now.) But we thought it was an obsessive thing, not a pain thing. Then awhile back she got a handful of mosquito bites while we were outside on a humid day, and she picked at those until they bled, then picked the scabs off the next day, and is still picking at those same scabs even now. Recently she's added another couple of bug bites to her collection, and also two small scrapes on the tops of her feet from tripping at the pool.
She picks at them all constantly, and when we've tried to stop her she gets furious and screams "I need to hurt!" And even if we force the matter and stay on top of her every minute of the day, when we get her up in the morning her sheets are dotted all over with blood. She pulls off bandages, rolls up long sleeves, and hides where we can't see her in order to tear all her scabs off.
I don't want to put a fucking 4-year-old on anti-anxiety meds. I also don't want to see my daughter's face streaked with blood every day. And I know that the process is addictive: the more she substitutes physical pain for emotional stress, the more she'll need it. So there's something to be said for nipping it in the bud now. But Christ.
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