War Wounds

Last Friday, I walked into Eban's classroom to pick him up from school and I saw his friend with a huge bruise that took up the left side of his forehead. I made some comment like aren't you tough, and it sure does look like it hurts, etc. The teacher quietly pulled me to the side and said, "Miss Tracy, will you please sign this incident report?" I looked down to see that the paper I was signing was acknowledging the fact that my son had pushed another boy. I looked down at the little boy with the gigantic purple bruise and then looked back at Eban and incredulously asked the teacher if my son had done that!

She sadly said she couldn't answer but that there are good books about sharing and caring out there. I was sick with horror and I couldn't grasp that my sweet little 19 month old hurt another child...and after reading some books, they say the first cut is the deepest and it gets easier from here.

I talked to the director of the school at length and she laughed at me saying that all kids in this age group go through the pushing and shoving stage. They all say mine and no frequently and can switch from being bright little angels to demonic scary toddlers. She said I should just be happy that my kid isn't a biter.

It was a much more in depth conversation, but that's the jist of it. She made me feel normal and made me feel like I was a good mom. So Monday came around and I dropped Eban off at school. I was telling Miss Brittney about my conversation with Jena, the director, and she reiterated the fact that she was so thrilled that she had no biters in class. WELL WELL WELL...knock on wood...the phone call came in later that day that Eban had been bit on the shoulder blade. We asked if a chunk of skin was missing and they said no. They said it would just be a bruise and that they had applied ice. I guess that's karma? You can see from the two-day old bruise in this photo that it doesn't look bad at all for a bite wound!

And speaking of wounds...today, I got my first bloody lip from one of my kids. I picked up Eban and he didn't want to be picked up. Instead of telling me no, he threw a mini-tantrum and arched his back and threw his head back right into my lip. It was very nice of him to clock me in the mouth with his noggin. I'm sure they will be more bloody lips or noses in the future.

Eban has been chatting up a storm lately. We have no idea what he's saying but he likes to imitate a conversation with pauses and continuances.

Jack just isn't getting any better. The poor kid has trouble breathing all the time. It seems as though he has a constant runny nose and it sounds like there's fluid in his lungs. If he doesn't improve by Friday, we're taking him back into the doctor for something more drastic as he's waking himself up so many times in the night with difficulty breathing. We feel so bad for the little one!

EBAN'S WORDS