Stages and changes

Laken is going through an undesirable stage right now - hitting. And not just hitting mom and dad, but also hitting his little brother. He's not usually a bad big brother but lately he hits Carter on the head when Carter cries. Apparently he doesn't realize it just makes things worse. So we've started doing time-outs. He goes to his room any time he hits Carter. He SCREAMS when he gets shut in his room but I try to keep him in there for a couple minutes. I hate doing it in his room but don't have many options for a time-out spot in this small apartment but even if I did have another spot, I'm not sure he'd understand and stay. I've thought about getting a small rug to put behind the couch that would be for a time-out spot but not sure yet. So for now, it's his bedroom. I usually try to give him a few chances before putting him in time-out for other things but hitting is not tolerated and he gets no chances.
*Any time-out tips or ideas would be appreciated.*

On the upside for Laken, he's doing better potty-training. We bought one of those weekly/daily medicine containers and put a few m&ms in each spot. So each time he goes pee in the potty, he gets m&ms. Since we started giving him m&ms, he's done better. I guess candy is a good reward and incentive for him. I feel like i'm always asking him to go to the bathroom. The other day, he looked at me and said poop because he needed to go! I was so proud of him! Isn't it funny the things we parents get excited about for our toddlers?

Anyways, other news:
Jared doesn't enjoy his job. He doesn't like his hours (10am-7:30/8pm), his boss, or the pay. The hours have also been hard on Laken. We've realized that since Jared has started this job, Laken has regressed at going to bed. Could be coincidence but could also be the fact that he doesn't get to see Jared very much and has a hard time going to sleep without Jared home or with only spending a short amount of time with him. His boss is really anal about certain things and won't pay Jared for the amount of time he spends preparing for a group counseling session. So as Jared said, it gives him no incentive to prepare for groups.  Then as for pay, at first we thought it would be decent pay but then after looking at it and having it broken down, he really doesn't get paid too well. SO, the day after we talked about all this, he got a call from Bow Creek (where he worked a few months ago and was laid off from). They are in need of more counselors now and were hoping Jared would come back to work for them. They offered to pay him better than he was getting before, and want him part-time. So, Jared and I talked about it and think it may be a good idea to do part-time at both places. Technically it would be more hours a week, but he'd also get to see Laken more during the days. So, we'll see how it works out.

Well, that's pretty much it for our stages and changes.