How is it that a blonde-haired, blue-eyed angelic-looking boy that blows kisses and delivers a hand full of weed-flowers to older ladies to make them melt, can be a holy terror?In my experience, teething gets blamed for almost everything. Just ask my mom. Teething is the reason for, crankiness, not getting enough sleep, colds, not eating, runny noses, fevers, diarrhea and now biting. I get it, somewhat. Except that the American Academy of Pediatrics and all those "learned doctors that went through so much schooling" seem to disagree with most of my mother's wise words. Which in itself is ironic because, according to her, usually if your title starts with a DR or an REV, your opinion has got to be right.
So what is it? Sheer frustration with not being able to communicate? Impatience? Budding soon-to-be-out-of-control temper?
I think I'm leaning more toward the "just being plain rotten" explanation. A good friend of mine summed it up pretty good when she referred to her children's bad behavior as "they're just being sinners." Amen sister to that.
But I guess I'd have to include myself in that explanation when the cherubim decided to lock down on my arm and drew some blood. He bit so hard, I was seriously thinking it was infected because of how much it welted up within minutes.
During his and mommy's appointed time-out, I ended up apologizing to the 4-year-old girl who is always soaking up all of the events, reactions and words being said. She saw reactions she probably shouldn't have seen, no bad words thankfully, but I shutter to think of her reacting that way towards anybody.
Good news is, could there be any better time to point out my imperfections and turn her attention to our Heavenly Father's perfect love for us and remind her of how much more He loves us even when we bite him? I'm sure the concept of biting Jesus is a little far-fetched in her mind, but at least I think she's getting the love part.
So here's a question for the 3 readers I have:
What did you do with a biting child?
For each biting incident, all the circumstances have been different: impatience, lack of communication skills, disobedience, being wronged.
Our MOPS group had the Wise Women Panel today and even our wise women were stumped, or at least their answers weren't the spelled out equation or list of suggestions to try next I was looking for.
It's certainly not everyday, which is really good for his father because farming 1100 acres could get a bit difficult with a toddler riding around in the front seat all day long. And it also gives me a chance to refuel my admiration for his sweet little face that loves to give his mommy open-mouth kisses.
If you get a chance, let me know what you think I should try next. I'm aware that my pride is an issue also because the idea of having "that kid that bites" is horrifying to me. So what I'm looking for is not only practical advice for our little wolf in sheep's clothing, but also advice on my struggles as well.
