The Lesson In A Bite

If you're wondering what the heck you're looking at, imagine my horror when I first saw this sight on my daughter's back. Yes, those are teeth marks on my child! She was bit! No, not by an animal... but by another child!

O.k., so being the "first-time mother", my initial reaction was to completely freak out. Daycare called and warned me immediately after the attack, and told me they have never seen Rosa so upset. She actually stopped breathing for a moment before letting out the loudest blood-curdling scream they had ever heard from her tiny body. The bite broke skin. It left a welt. I was so sad, and immediately left work and rushed to daycare to embrace my little survivor. Matt and I were steaming mad...we called the doctor, we discussed pulling her from daycare, we...we...oh... whew... we didn't know what to do. But after a deep breath, and many conversations with other parents, we calmed down.

You see, I guess I just never realized (here's that "first-time mom" thing) that children bite other children. It just happens, especially when they're little. And I hear that parents feel even worse when it is your own child that is the biter.

So after this small crisis, I'm a little wiser, Rosa is a little tougher, and all is well again. To prove it, here's a look at how she's survived...

The College Roommate

Too many rites of passage with my son lately, and they are all making me feel old and own a bit of a nervous stomach.

My son turned 18 a couple weeks ago. How did this happen? He was blond and sweet and 6 year old just last year - I'm sure of it. Now he's tall, dark, hairy and still sweet - but I'm still not sure how this happened. With this birthday, now he has to sign a "permission slip" for his mother to obtain information to send to his college concerning medical files. A permission slip for his mother - boy has my life changed.

Last week he recieved word on who his roommate in college will be. Some "wangster" (his word, not mine) from Flushing, NY. So I immediately have my son bring him up on facebook and he has nothing but party pictures on his page. DEEP BREATH. We are talking big red keg cups, funnels, Yegameister - aaarrrgggghhh!!!

My only words to my son - "BE TRUE TO YOURSELF" - what else can a mother say?

Stepping on Toes

Before I write anything I just want it to be known that I am very fortunate to have such great in-laws. I love them so much, they have done so much for us and I wouldn't trade them for anything. With that being said, nothing is ever perfect. When it comes to my MIL, she is the type of person who likes to be in charge, and she can sometimes be known as the queen bee. Now, there's nothing wrong with this, unless it comes to the point where she's not letting me be the mother to my child.

For example, the other morning Jordan was tired, and he was not listening to me for nothing. We all were getting a little frustrated. My MIL had stopped over for a minute and when she saw that Jordan wasn't listening she kind of took over. She stepped right in and yes did get Jordan to listen (by turning on cartoons might I add) and I just kind of stepped aside as my toes were being crushed. After she left, I looked at my husband and he knew exactly what I was thinking and he agreed with me.

Neither one of us said a thing. Yeah, we probably should of and we did say afterward that we were going to say something the next time she did something like that, but that kind of makes me feel uneasy. I am not a confrontational person and in the past when things needed to be said, I said them, but with the "ah I ah didn't re, re really like what ah you did" voice. And it all just comes out sounding pretty pathetic, so even thinking about saying something to my power tripping MIL freaks me out a little bit.

What about you? Has your toes ever been stepped on by anyone and how did you handle it?