On days I'm home late she's perfectly fine with whoever has her, and the moment I walk in she smacks me. Open hand, face or arm. Then climbs into my lap like nothing happened 🤷 I'm guessing it's her version of "where were you". The bit I can't work out is what to do right then. A firm no makes her laugh. Ignoring it feels wrong. Up at 5 thinking about this, as you can see.
Ours did this to me after long work weeks. I'd catch the hand, say "gentle" and show him a stroke on my cheek. It didn't stop quickly but the hitting got shorter. Is she at daycare the whole day?
Not sure it's always "where were you". With our two it went to whoever was the most fun, and that was often the person coming in late. Could just be excitement with nowhere to go. Handing her something as you walk in, a ball or a soft toy, helped us a little.
From memory, my son went through something like this around that age, and it faded once our evenings became predictable. The first ten minutes after I came in were floor time, no phone, nothing in my hands. Hard to do in a late week, I know, mine run late too.
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