A Rough Week

Well, it's kind of been a rough week in our neck of the woods.  It really started last weekend.  Everything started off fine on Friday when Scott and I went to the Twins game, a birthday gift for Scott from my parents.  We had a wonderful time, the weather was perfect and the Twins won!  Yeah!  It was a nice chance to get away from being "mom and dad" for a while and just enjoy each other's company, although we did spend quite a bit of time talking about bringing Jackson to his first game at Target Field. 

Saturday was spent moving furniture, steam-cleaning carpets, etc. in an effort to move Jackson into his own bedroom.  After a VERY long afternoon nap, he woke up around 5pm and proceeded to vomit all over me.  And again about 5 minutes later.  Within an hour and a half, Jackson had thrown up 5 times and couldn't keep anything down.  Two calls were made to his pediatrician and we started giving him 2 teaspoons of water every five minutes to keep him hydrated.  After another one hour nap, he appeared to be doing much better and even took a bottle.  By Sunday morning he was back to his usual happy, loving self.  Thank goodness!  We finished moving furniture and Jackson spent his first night in his new room Sunday night.  He did great and seems to love having his own space (and so do we!).

The rough week continued on Tuesday when I picked up Jackson from daycare.  Apparently he went on a biting spree during the day.  He had bitten a couple of times before but it's been quite a while and I really thought we were getting it under control.  Biting is such a frustrating thing because from everything I have read, it is very natural and quite common for toddlers to bite -- or hit or kick.  It's partially a form of communication because they don't yet have words and also a method of getting attention.  At such a young age they don't understand the concept of hurting others.  They also don't fully understand discipline either so how do you discipline a one-year old for such an action?  It's enough to drive a mother insane! 

Apparently this time, the parent of the bitten child got very upset about the situation and left an angry note for the head infant room teacher.  Of course, I feel just terrible about the entire thing!  I don't know what to do and it's even more frustrating because I'm not there to see what is going on.  Was Jackson provoked?  What happened leading up to the incident?  How was it handled by the teachers?  I just don't know what I'm supposed to do to prevent it from happening again but I would do anything if I just knew what to do.  And it makes me feel like a terrible mother that my child is causing problems at daycare.  Another frustrating aspect of this is that Jackson very rarely bites at home.  Maybe once a month he will try to bite either Scott or me.  We try to handle it as best we can.  Tell him "ouch" and "we kiss, we don't bite," and we stop whatever we were doing with him so he might learn that if he bites, the play stops.  These are all things we've been told to do.  But really, how can I try to correct a behavior that hardly ever happens around me?  AHHHH!!!!!

So, needless to say, it's been a long week and I'm really looking forward to this weekend.  We're going out for dinner with some friends on Saturday night.  Can't wait!  I'm hoping we'll have time for an outing with Jackson on Sunday since we've been so busy with house stuff the last couple of weeks.  Keeping my fingers crossed!