When Charlotte Attacks!

Lest you thought I was kidding about Charlotte's recent aggression towards Gavin, please observe:

Introducing Nathan!

Tales From a Frazzled Mother

My day began with bleeding. Which actually gave me a nice sense of symmetry, because yesterday my day ended with bleeding.

As I've mentioned before, Charlotte is the more physically aggressive of the twins. When frustrated, she hits, bites, scratches, pushes and squeezes. For a while, Gavin didn't reciprocate. Michael and I would watch these scenes unfold, and actually hope for Gavin to react. Imagine this scenario, if you will: Gavin is riding around the kitchen on the Disney ride-on toy. Charlotte decides that the Disney ride-on toy is HERS, and she needs to have it NOW! (In fact, everything in the ENTIRE HOUSE belongs to Charlotte, and if you dare to be playing with the toy when she decides she wants it, watch out!) Charlotte declares, "MINES!," but Gavin continues to scoot around the kitchen, unaware that Charlotte is growing more agitated by the minute. Charlotte marches over to Gavin, and grabs his face with all her might. And those sharp little nails hurt. Trust me. I've been on the receiving end of one of her face-grabs. These little scenarios happen several times a day. Usually, if we see it happening, we'll try our best to deflect her attention so it doesn't escalate into some sort of physical retaliation. But if we miss the signs that Charlotte is on the offensive, and she attacks Gavin in some way, we find ourselves almost hoping that Gavin will smack her back. (Is that wrong? Or mean? I contend that it will teach her a lesson.) In most cases, Gavin just yells.

Yesterday she was particularly possessive, and brutal. She drew blood on Gavin's left cheek in the morning, and left him with a matching boo-boo on his right cheek and nose right before bed. This morning, she delivered a swollen sctratch near his ear and a few on his neck.

So what do I do? I put her in timeout, and she does sit there for a minute or so, but it doesn't seem to be sinking in. I also make sure I am clear and firm with her (No Charlotte! We don't hit! Hitting hurts!) and then I lavish all sorts of attention on Gavin and ignore Charlotte. But none of it seems to be working.

I don't think she ever hit anyone at daycare. There was a questionable comment on her report card that said " We would like Charlotte to use her words when in a confrontation about a toy." But it made no mention of hitting or biting. Perhaps her teachers were avoiding the issue, or else they are just so accustomed to hitting and biting in the Toddler Room that it didn't seem worth mentioning.

Is this the terrible twos, a little early? If so, we're in for a very bloody year.

Talking...

I find this language acquisition thing incredibly fascinating. Watching the twins progress from babbling to being able to follow simple directions to uttering a word or two to being able to communicate some of their needs has been amazing. It's one thing to hear them use words that we have been working on (i.e. more, please, help, bless you) , but it's quite another to hear them say things that they have just picked up along the way. Like when Charlotte slings her purse over her shoulder and exclaims, "Bye Mommy! I miss you Mommy!" Or when I lather Gavin's head with shampoo and he points to his "bubble hat."
Just as cute (but slightly more obnoxious) is when they refer to us as "Amy" and "Michael."

What amazes me most is when they bust out in a song that I didn't even know they knew. Just the other day Gavin started singing Frere Jacques, and he was perfectly on pitch. Charlotte's new favorite is "Rocka," aka Rockabye Baby.

Who knows what the next few months have in store in terms of language acquisition? I can't wait to find out.

I'm off to try to watch the Obama Inauguration. Too bad the twins are too little to know they are witnessing history!

The Last 5 Months in Less Than 200 Words (I Think. I Didn't Actually Count.)

Went back to work full-time. Put Charlotte and Gavin in daycare. Became a huge fan of convenience cooking. Lots and lots of lesson planning. Focused too much energy on getting the twins to sleep past 5:30 am, unsuccessfully. Dealt with MANY daycare illnesses. Had tubes put in Gavin's ears to stop onslaught of ear infections. Stopped working. Made it PAST my due date! Delivered Nathan on December 30, just in time for the tax deducation. Took Charlotte and Gavin out of daycare. Became a stay-at-home mom for the second time, at least for the next four months.

Now you're up to speed. Stay tuned to more stories from the frontline. Life with busy toddlers and a newborn is far from easy!