"That" kid

Having 2 children potty trained and through the toddler years, my husband and I decided to add another 2 feet to our family.  In the beginning, besides the sleepless nights, it was such a sweet time for everyone.  There were "Oo's" and "Ah's" over the baby's tiny toes and little noises.  And then the baby came to life!  You know what I mean, that time of transition when the baby goes from a lump of crying, drooling, sweet sugar to a smiling, giggling, uncoordinated blob of entertainment and then, BOOM, welcome the teetering, tottering silliness of babyhood.  The entertainment level in our house exponentially multiplied when this happened to our youngest who is now 19 months of energy.  Being the baby by several years and having 2 adoring older siblings means he's not at all spoiled.  HAHAHAHAAAA!!!  His bouncy blonde hair, toothy grin and infectious laugh have charmed us all into doing pretty much whatever he wants.  However (isn't there always a however?) he has become a bit of a tyrant in some areas.  Since his siblings are older he isn't competing for toys much as they're past playing with Little People and puzzles with only 4 pieces.  This problem becomes apparent when he's playing with friends of his same age.  His BFF is a little girl 2 weeks older than himself but they seem to have worked out a system of playing together that begins with a bit of bullying (from my kid…eeeek!) and a bit of dramatic screaming (by the little girl, imagine that!) and then 30 minutes later a truce where they're sharing toys and juice cups.  However, during the beginning of their friendship there was some serious competition and my sweet little tyrant used his teeth a few times on his friend's fingers and although we've nipped that in the bud for the most part, he's still resorting to pinching…her face.  Not ok! But when we're hanging out together and it's just us mommies and our 2 babies it's much easier to put my aggressive baby into time out and raise my voice to indicate that my baby should let go of his friend's pretty face.  However (there it is, again!) when I'm in a setting with lots of kids and mommies I don't know, discipline is a bit more of a challenge.  That's exactly the situation I found myself in this weekend.  There I was volunteering in the church nursery.  My baby...my sweet, adorable, precious, funny, smiling little baby (who in his defense is getting over a bad cold) was in there with me.  At first he just struggled with sharing the toys but that was easy to correct.  The longer we were in there and the more tiny, tottering people that entered the room, the more annoyed my baby became.  Next thing I knew he was attacking other kids.   What in the world?  We don't pinch each other's faces at home…honest! So I tried time out.  Have you ever tried that in a crowded nursery? Not an easy task.  And then couple that with the glances of the other nursery workers who are also moms and I was seriously doubting my parenting abilities.  And then it happened, my baby attacked the visitor's kid.  So after another time out, a toddler apology and a look of shame on my face I did the unthinkable.  I kicked my kid out of the nursery!  Yep, my OWN kid was that kid.  You know the one that gets notes sent home to his parents for biting and hitting and eventually is asked to not return until the problem is corrected.  Mortified is possibly an understatement to how I was feeling after the 2nd incident of hard face pinching.  I had a duty to stay in the nursery with the other kids though.  So what did I do?  I passed the buck along to Daddy.  Yep, good 'ol Dad got stuck with the angry and sleepy toddler.  And what did I learn from this experience?  Make sure your cell phone is always charged in the event that you need to use a life line and text someone to come get your rowdy baby.  So to all the other parents out there wondering if they're alone in having the naughty kid for the day, listen to me closely…you're not alone!

--But seriously, I hope someone's else's kid holds that torch next week in nursery!