When I got home from work on Monday, Naomi and her dad were sitting on the front steps. Naomi always gets the cutest, biggest smile on her face when she sees me after a long time apart- it has evolved a bit from when I used to pick her up at daycare and she would signify her recognition (and happiness?) with a gaping, wide open mouth. I can only guess that I made a similar face at her? Like an open mouth of wonder and surprise? Something? Anyway, now she smiles a really beautiful and definitely genuine smile (which I stress only because lately she has become the biggest fake laugher ever). In contrast with this little sunbeam, though, was a particularly grim expression on Jim.
“You’ll never guess what happened today,” he said. “Look at her face.” Looked pretty cute to me. He turned her head so I could see her cheek. There was a round red welt- it looked like she had fallen asleep on something hard and painful, and this was the result. For a minute I didn’t know what I was looking at. It made me think of the old Phantom comic strip, with the guy who wore purple all the time and had a ring in the shape of a skull that left a nasty and unmistakable imprint on the jaw of whatever villain he socked. Was Naomi in a fistfight with a superhero? Or a gangster?
Jim must have sensed that I really would never guess. “It’s a bite,” he said. Augh! Apparently some kid at school was hugging and kissing Naomi (cute!), and then decided to get all
In the interest of full disclosure, about three weeks ago, Naomi bit… me. We were goofing around and laughing, and during one playful jostle, she just opened up her mouth and chomped down hard on my upper arm. It really hurt at the time, although she didn’t break the skin, and I had a little round bruise for a few days. I know that she didn’t bite me to hurt me, and I know that she wasn’t really aware of what she was doing. She was just worked up and excited, and that manifested itself as a chomp. I should probably have viewed it as the gift of a teaching moment; instead it was more of a yelling moment. But she hasn’t bitten since then. The point, I guess, is that I know kids bite. They are puppy-like in their scrappiness and in their manifestations of play and exuberance. But there is part of me that would have liked to have a similar teaching (yelling) moment with the tot who bit my kid’s face.
A postscript: in past idle surfing, I have come across some parenting bulletin boards that contain cheerful anecdotes from parents who claim to have cured their biters by… biting them back. I didn’t give this sort of crackpottery a second thought, but now that I have had a biter (and bitee), I am reminded of that advice, and all I can say is, Ewww! Is there really someone out there biting their baby? Stop that right now!
2 comments:
DUDES! The kid bit her in the face??? Maybe I can understand biting on the arm or leg, but the face is way past "he got carried away." I can't believe that you're so calm about it. Maybe you should bite the supervisors on their faces to make them understand the impact of their neglect. Ooh, and maybe you can bite the kid and his parents, too.
Ouch! Thankfully, no one has ever bitten my kids, but *I* have been bitten--by both of them. Liam used to bite when he was worked up and tired, and Tessa has bitten me a couple times. The last time she bit me was on an airplane--and she was exhausted and wired and bit down on my arm--hard (she also bit me once when breastfeeding--no fun, let me tell you, since she was almost two and had a full set of teeth!!)
I hope Naomi isn't too traumatized by the over-zealous hug!
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