Beautiful Boy

So Ben is a bit of bruiser. He's a big boy and he's strong, VERY physical, and he wants what he wants when he wants it! But he still has a real baby face and at just over 2 he really is still just a baby -- a baby boy that is.

Around 18 months he developed a deep love of vehicles. He loves his trains, cars, trucks, firetrucks, and buses. Long ago I lost count of firetrucks in our house. Whenever he hears a siren he screams "firetuck" and the sight of any bus is met with a joyful announcement of "skoobus!" We live near the fire station and every time we drive or walk by he makes sure I notice the firetrucks and ambulances.

He recently discovered his sister's Peter Pan CD and now every time we get in the car he says "wanna lissena Penna Pan". So I've been listening to A LOT of Peter Pan lately -- seriously, I could probably recite most of the damn thing at this point.

He is still quite the mama's boy. He really wants me most of the time. He wants to be held and carried often and he also likes it when he can sit on my lap during meals. He's kind of bossy about it too. His way of "asking" to sit with me is "Momma sit Ben!"
Gawd - I managed to give birth to two really bossy kids! I sort of miss the short daddy-phase when he wanted daddy at least as often as he wanted me. Don't get me wrong. I know that I should enjoy the kids' desire for mom while I have it and he is one snuggly little bear - but since Lucy's ALWAYS been a mommy's girl, the pressure of both of them wanting me and only me can get tiring. And of course it's frustrating for my husband too.

Right now our big challenge is to cure him of biting and hitting. Starting a few months ago he really started fighting when he's not getting want he wants. When he decides he's not in the mood for a diaper change (most of the time) or for a tooth brush it's a miserable battle.

Unfortunately, he's in a classroom with a lot of other boys and many of them also bit. In fact about 2 months ago they were having so much trouble with the 6 biters that all the parents got called in for meetings. And it was a problem, over the course of the previous couple of months if we weren't getting incident reports saying he bit someone we were getting one because he been bit or scratched. The meeting was relatively benign, the teacher just wanted to let us know the strategies they planned on using in the classroom and, I think, to make sure the parents would all do what they could at home to help curb the aggressive behavior.

It all seemed to be working. After the meeting we had nearly eight weeks when he was biting much less frequently at home and we didn't receive any incident reports from school. Unfortunately last week he bit 1 kid twice and another kid once in 2 days. Nothing since then, but the teacher still wants to meet about it. We were supposed to meet today but she got sick, so it'll be postponed until next week. Big Sigh! Everyday when I pick him up I can feel myself getting anxious as I get closer to his room - just hoping that there won't be a report in his bag. It's so sad when you are actually relieved that your kid was bit instead of the one doing the biting!