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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Having "that kid"

At 21 months, Bug is so much fun.  She's adorable, she's opinionated (oh boy), and she's talking up a storm.  She generally seems to be at the just-over-two-years level; she's actually not that far behind the twins.  Generally, she's well-behaved.

Then there was yesterday at Gymboree.  As soon as I took off her coat and shoes and set her down on the floor, she ran over to a little girl (who I hadn't seen in that class before) and smacked her across the chest, knocking her down and bringing waves of tears.  I have no idea why.  Ten minutes later, she hit another kid.  At the third offense, we went out of the fun area and had a talk.

I don't know what on earth she was thinking, but let me tell you, I hated feeling like the mom of "that kid."  Bug usually behaves; she's usually friendly, if possessive.  But suddenly I was the "mom" of the terror, that kid who makes other moms shield their young from swinging fists and kicking feet.  Thankfully, the mom of the first little girl to bear Bug's random wrath was understanding, and the other two were just minor offenses.  That doesn't change the fact that I felt awful.

I know it's not Bug's mom's parenting.  Like I said, this was out of character for her - not helped, I'm sure, by the fact that she wasn't feeling 100%.  But that didn't make it any easier to be the one with the problem kid!  I'm not too keen on Gymboree next week now...

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