baby bullies

Squirt seems to have met her first "bully." Now I'll be the first to acknowledge that little beans are curious creatures and, in that curiosity, sometimes accidentally hurt eachother. But there is a little boy in Squirt's daycare class who seems to enjoy making the other babies cry... He likes - no loves - to pull hair. That in itself isn't the problem, since most of the babies in this classroom like to pull (read discover) eachothers' colorful pigtails. They tug once and stop. He tugs and squeals with delight when he elicits tears. And then tugs again and again and again until someone runs over and peels him off the crying baby.

This morning, as soon as I sat Squirt on the play mat and walked away, he motored straight to her and started yanking on her hair (note that she did not have colorful pigtails today). She started crying as soon as she saw him coming, which tells me he's the likely cause of her disappearing baby-scrunchies. I'm glad I was there to comfort her. I firmly told the boy "no" and "bad," but there was nothing else I could do. I talked to the room's caregivers and they told me that he always does this. Admittedly, they try to stay on top of it as much as possible and, today, put him in a play area by himself as "punishment" (think baby time out). But, again, there's not much else they can do. I can't help but wonder if his parents know about his behavior and, if they do, what, if anything, they are doing to mitigate it.

This interaction today got me thinking about bullying in general - something I've never really put much thought into. At this age it's not really "bullying" per se, but in a few years it will be. How do I teach my daughter to respond to a mean classmate? How can I teach her to not let it get to her? How do I teach her to react to it and defend herself without getting into trouble herself? On the flip side, how do I teach her to not become a bully herself?

RAWR!

teeth!

After a couple weeks of teething misery (fun for the whole family), Squirt's first teeth finally finished breaking through. Now she has adorable, pearly, tiny razorblades sticking out of her gums... She's eagerly chomping away at anything (and anyone) she can get her hands on. The cats have learned to give her an increasingly wide berth, but mommy doesn't have such a luxury. Fortunately, she's only bitten down a couple times while nursing (though those were VERY memorable). She's also finally started eating solids more. I guess she was waiting for her little chompers to start exploring new foods, and now she's unstoppable!

I just sincerely hope subsequent teeth aren't as miserable as these first two... or that we'll at least get a nice, long hiatus before the next ones decide to start stabbing through.

On another note, much to my delight, fall is in full swing here in New Mexico. The leaves are turning and dropping and the weather is refreshingly cool (bordering on brrrr). Squirt is fascinated by the falling leaves and is obviously intrigued by the trees that were once green, then gold, now bare. For her sake, I hope we get a couple of good snow storms this winter! I think she will love it.

Loving (and eating) the fall leaves.

preserving memories

I was never very keen on the idea of a "family blog," even once I started my own little family. But yesterday - with the emergence of teeth! - I realized that time is fleeting and, before we know it, everything changes. With the sight of those two little pearly whites in my daughter's perfect little mouth, I vowed to not let time slip away, to embrace every moment, and to do everything I can to preserve these memories.

Thus, my family blog was born! This will be a little corner of the universe where I will share my family's comings and goings while maybe ranting a bit here and there. It's a little piece of home.