19TH FEBRIARY 20067.55pm
This happened around an hour and a half ago.
We'de had dinner. I was in the kitchen clearing away the dishes, DH was in the lounge with the children. He has been in a vile mood all day - refusing lunch, snappy and irritable. I heard him ask the youngest child to go to him so that he could cut their fingernails. Youngest child complied.
Then I heard him ask eldest child. Eldest child is a girl and takes great pride in her fingernails. She cuts and files them herself and takes a huge amount of pleasure in looking after them. She has beautiful fingernails. They are not overly long and really didn't need cutting. I should have intervened and told him to leave them alone, but I didn't.
Then I hear him shout his usual threat - which is to 'bang her out'. This is his way of saying he is going to hit her. It's a threat he levels at anything he doesn't like. It's not a threat he has ever carried out. Nonetheless it makes my stomach churn when I hear it.
Eldest child is being stubborn and refuses to go to him. I hear her say 'no'. I walk to the door and stand for a second. She is sat on the couch. DH is sitting on the floor about 3 feet away from her.
Then it happens.
He grabs for her leg and yanks her down off the couch and onto the floor. It was nasty - she fell with a real wallop onto the floor and immediately started to cry - really cry. It was obvious that she was in pain. She fell onto her cocyx (sp.) It could have been very very nasty. He then tried to pin her to the floor so that he could cut her nails. She was screaming and getting hysterical. Youngest child was a witness to all of this and was also crying.
Of course I intervened the second he grabbed her - it all happened so quickly. I yelled at him to leave her alone and pulled him off her. He didn't fight back. I set her onto the couch and just held her until she calmed down. He left the room without saying a word.
