Biting

Haven't wanted to write a new blog post for a while because we've been going through an emotional roller coast ride as we've tried to help Cole not bite his friends at daycare.  This all came to a head about a week or so ago when the daycare threatened to kick him out if he kept biting his friends.  This came as a little bit of a shock to us b/c they really hadn't been saying much about any issues.  Yes, from time to time he would bite, but nothing super consistent. Anyway, he went thru a phase where he was almost constantly biting his friends for no apparent reason.  At home, I noticed that if you held your arm up next to his face he would bite you. Crazy!  So after much frustration, we discovered that he was cutting his 2-year molars.  So, now he goes to school with a teething ring attached to his shirt.  He seems to happily chew on that and not his friends.

This issue has force us to come up with some disciplinary consequence for Cole.  He now has to serve a timeout if he hits or bites anyone.  The first few times I put him in a timeout, I thought I'd never make it.  He would just get right back up and try to escape from me.  So I would put him back and put him back and put him back and this would go on for ever!  But eventually, he gave in and the next time it was easier and easier...Timeouts are never perfect, but we now have a good system in place.