The in-laws will arrive sometime either today or tomorrow. They are not sure if they are going to stop overnight or not. They very well could be at my house when I get home from work, which means that I don’t get my evening to myself with Zach and Hubby like I had planned. I’m really hoping that they will stop and not arrive until Friday (like they said they would). I really hope that they will understand (and not be offended by) my need to have a little bit of Mommy and Zach alone time while they are here. I only get about 2 1/2 hours a day with him as it is during the week and I don’t like the idea of sharing that time.
Hubby’s birthday is Sunday. He’ll be turning 30 this year and since he claims that until he met me his birthdays were always bad, I always try to make it a special day for him. This year we agreed to no gifts for birthdays or holidays in order to compensate for some traveling that we will be doing in the near future. Hubby is going to Pittsburgh in November. I’m going to Portland in December. Then, we’re all going to Hawaii in January. I kind of look at his trip to Pittsburgh as a birthday gift to him, but I still feel bad not having anything to give him on his birthday. We are having a few friends over Saturday for a party, but I feel like he just needs something special from me that says I love you and I got this special thing because you mean so much to me. I would just give him a card and some extra special lovin’ but his parents will be in the bedroom about 5 feet away from ours and I’m pretty sure they don’t want to have to listen to the celebration.
Speaking of the party, my mom was supposed to watch Zach and my sister’s kids so that we could have a kid-free evening and enjoy the free-flowing booze without having to worry about waking up the babies and changing poopy diapers. However, there may end up being a little problem with that as my mom has been sick since Saturday and isn’t really showing signs of getting better. She has some mysterious illness that may or may not be some kind of cruel virus. She went to the doctor, had a bunch of blood drawn for tests, and still has no answers. She sees the doc again tomorrow and hopefully he’ll be able to tell her something. If she’s feeling better by Saturday, she still wants to keep the kids, but she’s been feeling very week and I’m just not sure that she’ll have it in her to chase around two toddlers. The older nephew will be fine, it’s just the little guys I worry about. If she’s not feeling better, I guess we’ll just have kids at the birthday party.
Another joy that goes along with my mom being sick is that she’s been out of the office all week. I actually don’t mind that so much, but it does leave me with even more work to do (and we all know how fond I am of work). So, being the good employee that I am, I procrastinate. I don’t know why I do it, but I seem to try to avoid actually working at all costs. I really hate this part of myself yet I can’t seem to make myself change.
My son, the sweet little innocent guy that I love with every ounce of my being, has started biting. More specifically, he’s been biting me. He doesn’t do it to anyone else. The worst part of it all is that he bites under the disguise of love. He’ll act like he’s giving me a hug or kiss and then chomp down. He has bitten me three times in as many days. The first time (that I briefly mentioned in yesterday’s post) he actually broke the skin and made me bleed. Then lastnight, as we were wandering around at Sam’s Club getting a few supplies for the weekend, he bit me again, this time on the shoulder. And then this morning, when I dropped him off at day care, I bent down to give him a kiss before I left and he bit me on the lip. He has done this a few times before but I personally think this is getting a bit excessive and I don’t know how to get him to stop. I also have no idea why he only bites me. He is getting some more teeth in, so that could be part of the problem, but I just don’t really think I taste that good.
All kids go through a biting phase. It’s totaly normal. One time Doodles bit me so hard I bled. I bit him back, lightly, he never did it again. I’ve heard from other mom’s who did the same thing.
Sorry that you have so much going on at once. At least it keeps things interesting.
Huh. That’s funny because when my friend’s baby was about Zach’s age, he started doing the exact same thing. They found out it was a behavior he learned in day care and then started taking out on them at home. Good luck with it!
Toddlers often bite for a couple of different reasons. It’s usually because they are frustrated or don’t know the words to use. That’s when it’s important for the adults to help the child by giving them simple words to use and/or showing them sign language.
When a child bites their loved one, often mommy, it often starts as a surprise. They didn’t know what they were doing. However, if they liked the reaction they got, they will often keep doing it. You have to ask yourself what you do when he bites. Do you laugh? Do you get angry? You have to let him know “it hurts” and that he needs to stop. You know your child best, but as a toddler teacher I’ve found that if you put a serious, but firm expression on your face, put the child down immediately and tell him “no, that hurts mommy”, the child will often stop. Sometimes you have to do it a couple of different times for him to get the idea. Once he realizes that he isn’t going to get a laugh and that he’s not going to continue being held, he stops.
My son used to do this to me too. He used to like to bite my chin or my shoulder when I picked him up. I’d put him down and tell him gently that biting hurts mommy and I won’t hold you if you are going to bite me. That did it. What he really wanted was my undivided attention and when he found out that he wasn’t going to get that if he bit, then he stopped.
don’t you just love family 🙂
All kids go through a biting phase. It’s totaly normal. One time Doodles bit me so hard I bled. I bit him back, lightly, he never did it again. I’ve heard from other mom’s who did the same thing.
Sorry that you have so much going on at once. At least it keeps things interesting.
Huh. That’s funny because when my friend’s baby was about Zach’s age, he started doing the exact same thing. They found out it was a behavior he learned in day care and then started taking out on them at home. Good luck with it!
Toddlers often bite for a couple of different reasons. It’s usually because they are frustrated or don’t know the words to use. That’s when it’s important for the adults to help the child by giving them simple words to use and/or showing them sign language.
When a child bites their loved one, often mommy, it often starts as a surprise. They didn’t know what they were doing. However, if they liked the reaction they got, they will often keep doing it. You have to ask yourself what you do when he bites. Do you laugh? Do you get angry? You have to let him know “it hurts” and that he needs to stop. You know your child best, but as a toddler teacher I’ve found that if you put a serious, but firm expression on your face, put the child down immediately and tell him “no, that hurts mommy”, the child will often stop. Sometimes you have to do it a couple of different times for him to get the idea. Once he realizes that he isn’t going to get a laugh and that he’s not going to continue being held, he stops.
My son used to do this to me too. He used to like to bite my chin or my shoulder when I picked him up. I’d put him down and tell him gently that biting hurts mommy and I won’t hold you if you are going to bite me. That did it. What he really wanted was my undivided attention and when he found out that he wasn’t going to get that if he bit, then he stopped.
I hope that helps. Good luck!