We made GREAT progress. As in, she NEVER had it at school and every now and then I'd cave and give it to her at naptime on the weekend. And that was it. Out of sight, out of mind.
And then the biting started. At school. Multiple times a day.
I'm not going to act like she was an angel at home. Because we certainly had our fair share of biting issues at home (months ago). And we thought we, ahem, *corrected* that.
But, something in her changed at school. (Let's be clear that I am not making excuses. Biting is NOT ok.) First, she moved up to the next room - she had to reclaim her territory (and territorial she is). Second, she is in a room with some children that are communicating on a higher level than her. And although I think that Caroline's vocabulary is exceptional, she still gets very frustrated when she's trying to tell you something that you can't make out. And third, her BFF (Katherine) was still in the old room.
For weeks on end, I would get to her school and cringe...how many times did she bite today? How many MORE times did she TRY to bite today?
After about a month of this, pouring over the internet and books for help, talking to other moms who may have gone through this (unfortunately all of my friends' kids are angels), talking to the teachers, talking to the daycare director (with the fear of them kicking us out), talking to the pediatrician, crying every evening at home, BEGGING for someone to tell me what to do to make it all go away and flat out beating myself up over it...the worst was yet to come...
I walked into school that fateful day, PRAYING that my child hadn't tried to bite anybody that day...and guess who is sitting in the front office. In time out. MY CHILD. For everybody to see. The minute I saw her, I just knew. (And the tears started. Mine.)
Here's what happened that afternoon: Caroline bit another child in her class. So, like usual, they put her in time out (which was the high chair). Then, when another child walked her near her and was playing with a toy, she reached down and bit that child's hand. So, not only was she in time out for biting, she BIT while she was in TIME OUT!
I wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out. Perhaps this is payback for all the times I looked at an unruly child and said "My child will never act like that."
I feel so stupid for it taking so long for me to think of this, but it was that afternoon that I thought about giving the paci back to Caroline. I sent it school with her that very next day and she's been a different child ever since. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), she's found other ways to get out her frustration, like swatting at people and throwing herself on the floor - but at least she's not causing physical harm to anybody.
And, I know she's approaching the Terrible Two's (let's hope that we've seen the worst of it). I know she's not perfect (but damn near close) and I know I'm not perfect (but damn near close...bahaha!) and I'm not naive enough to think she'll be an angel at all times. But, she's got an anger in her that I can't quite figure out sometimes. Is this normal?
Unfortunately, the paci is with her 98% of the time now. It seems as though she's more attached to it now than she was before. And I still cringe when I hear her talking with it in her mouth (my biggest pet peeve). But, we will get through this. Hopefully six months from now, I'll write a post that's titled "Paci Free....And Loving Life!"
On a related note - how much CUTER would this picture be if that blasted paci weren't in her mouth?
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