I have no idea why, but things have been better this past week. I guess it was one of those phases and hope it has ended. Why it had to last so long I have no idea. All his other phases were just a couple of months or less.
It seemed like it finally clicked when I told him he was hurting me. My son always thought it was a game, but I think he has finally realized it is not.
One thing that I have tried (for the past month) is that when I sense it coming, I grab both hands and hug him tightly. I can't believe he needs anymore affection than he already gets, but something must make him need it at that particular time and he couldn't come up with any other way of letting me know.
If I think of anything else that I did differently in the last couple of weeks, I will let you know.