Our Week

This week was a little trying, to say the least! It actually started last Friday when we picked David up from Day Care. We walk into his classroom, the first week in his toddler class and the teacher said he bit kid that day, oh no! Didn't break the skin, but still the same he bit a kid (not the first time this has happened). Now, he has been biting us at home and we have been trying to get him to understand it's bad to bite, but he's 15 months old and cannot rationalize or understand.
Monday, when we pick him up from day care, we have another note in his box but this time he bit 2 kids and there was some paperwork in his box about the day cares policy on biting, the consequences of an excessive biter, ways to find triggers of a biting child and the wonderful news that is classroom was going to be monitored by the DIRECTOR the next day! I talked to the teacher and she said that the kids were "in his space". They weren't taking his toy away, they weren't being mean, they were just in his space. Ugh - like mother like son!
After reading the paperwork 1) I didn't think he was going to be kicked out of day care, but I was afraid he was going to be transferred to a different classroom, this after I practically begged to get him to be in this one 2) that all the other parents to were to find out it has been David biting their kids and would say something to us. I was kind of worried you could say, wondering what happened to the sweet child we had before we went on vacation LOL.
Tuesday came and went and we didn't hear from the Director about how the monitoring went and when I asked the teacher about it, she just said it went fine and refused to elaborate (now thinking back, I'm sure it was probably against policy for her to tell us what the Director found during her monitor).
Wednesday, I called Ms Nicole, the Director, and asked her how it went. She started off the call by saying "Bless his little heart" - I wasn't sure how to interpret that, so I didn't say anything. Then she went on to tell me that first, he wasn't the only biter in the classroom (whew!). She said that it was not a behavioral problem, that he's not biting out of anger, aggression or even frustration - he's biting because he is teething really bad. She just kept saying "Bless his little heart, I've never seen a child teeth as hard or as bad as David" She said she was at a loss for words, didn't know how to correct it because he needed consent stimulation on his gums. All day long he was grinding his teeth, chewing on a teething ring or would have Orijel put on his gums and he was still biting. Said she intercepted 3 bites that day and missed one when his bit his girlfriend Savannah on the shoulder during Circle Time.
Long story short, he's not getting kicked out, moved to a different class, but what he is getting is time out for every time he bites or tries to bite for 1 min. He will be told that it's not nice to bite our friends and be put in the time out corner. AND, he has one of the teachers specifically assigned to him as a buddy, meaning where ever David goes, the teacher goes and is there to intercept any attempts to bite. He hasn't biten anyone (except me) for the last 2 days, so it might just be working.
On a different note - I won a $250 Wal-Mart gift card from the radio station I listen to today! I was sitting at my desk when my cell phone rang and I hear "Is this Michelle Cipriano?" I said "yes" "Hi this is Ugly Ed from Alice 107.7, did you hear your name on the radio today?" I said "nooo" then he said "well, you just won a $250 gift card from Wal-mart, courtesy of Kodak" Whoo hoo! He asked if I remembered signing up for the contest and I said I kind of did but I really wasn't sure LOL. He verified by birthday and said "Yep, it's you - You Won $250" I said "Holy Crap~!!!!!" I sure hope it didn't get aired. After I hung up, I started thinking someone was playing some kind of joke on me, so I called Anthony and asked if it was him and he had no idea what I was talking about. I finally just called the radio station back and asked if it was for real or if one of my friends was goofing around; they asked my name and then said "Yep, we have the card here ready for you to pick up! What a way to start a holiday weekend huh! Wal-mart here we come.
I hope everyone has a safe and exciting Labor Day weekend - watch out for drunk drivers!