Once bitten, twice shy...

{Happy New Year! My New Year's resolution is to blog more.  Sense a pattern?  Suffice it to say, I am always going to want to blog more than I am humanly able to do so.  So, until I have a sudden freeing-up of time, I will promise to at least give you something to read often enough that you don't grow bored with me or the blog.  Too late?  Damn.  Well...if you're still out there.  Enjoy the latest episode in the neverending saga of parenting failures.}

I haven't mentioned this on the blog, but The Incredible Hulk started going to daycare in a center in early December.  So far, I actually have found all of the daycare center horror stories to be totally urban legend and we're very happy.  However, recently, I got a call no parent ever wants to get.

My kid bit another kid on the playground.

Let me start by saying this.  TIH?  He does bite.  Usually, it comes from either teething or curiosity.  Generally, he doesn't bite out of frustration.

Instead he kicks, slaps, and pulls hair.

It's precious.  Really.



I blame the Cullens.




In reality, every time bitch slaps me, I chalk yet another tally for the column "You Are the Worst Mother EVER" and drown my sorrows in ice cream or wine - whichever is closest.

I have done so much research on aggression in toddler boys and basically all I can find is that TIH is as normal as normal can be and that all boys at this age are tiny little monsters.  All of the suggestions for dealing with the behavior is doing EXACTLY what my husband and I have been doing.  Neither of us believe in spanking or retaliation or really anything that would reinforce this negative behavior.  And both of us are pretty proactive people who are able to read the cues of an impending meltdown.

However, his behavior does scare me.  I am not going to lie and say I'm a totally Zen-like person all the time who never raises their voice in anger.  On the contrary, I have QUITE the short fuse.  And, what terrifies me is that my son has probably inherited my short fuse.

I spent a few days following the biting incident feeling like a sham of a parent who is responsible for every bad/mean trait in my son.  I know that his teachers say that this behavior is normal.  I know that the books say it is normal.  But, I also know that the look he has on his face when he's angry is all too familiar.

It's my angry face.  Everytime I see it, my heart just sinks.

It was a few days later, while I was still wallowing in the shame of my bad traits, when I received a call from a teacher in TIH's classroom. 

TIH had been bitten on the playground.



You know, I hate that my son got bitten on the playground.  I hate that he had a little red mark and they had to put ice on it and apparently he cried his cute little face off about it.

But, after it happened, I felt better. I am convinced now that biting at this age is normal.

It's a phase.  And it will, just like every other way, eventually pass.

And if not?

We know who to call.



Why, hello there.

 

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