Little Triumphs

You know, in the course of any given day, I beat myself up for not being an ideal mom. I don't know what it is, but it's so much easier for me to find the flaws in my parenting than for me to recognize that I *might* be doing an ok job. In fact, I *might* be doing a good job (gasp!). Yesterday, I received a report from the kid's teacher that he bit another kid. A word of explanation here, we've been struggling with the kid's behavior at daycare for the better part of a year now. Right around his second birthday, the biting and pushing were an almost daily occurance...and if any of you are the parent of "that kid", then you know the guilt and heartache we went through. No one wants their kid to be "that kid" and we did everything we could to curb his behavior. I will say, though, that his caregivers and the daycare director have been so wonderful about this. While M and I were cowering in the corner, feeling guilty, trying to blurt out 100 different explanations of what the source of the problem was, and pledging earnestly that we would do everything we could to help stop the behavior, they were so sweet and supportive. Never a negative word left their lips, only positive thoughts and guidance. A lot of it had to do with his inability to communicate effectively, but now that his speech has really come around, we haven't had these problems. Until yesterday. Yesterday was the first time in a long time where we had a biting incident. So of course, I drove home feeling dejected and wondering what, as a parent, I did wrong.

But as we were getting ready for work/school today, I noticed something else in the kid's behavior. He's extremely polite. He says "please" and "thank you" in the proper way and without being prompted. When he climbed into my bed to watch TV while I was getting ready, he said to me, "Miss Spider, please." When I handed him his Eggo waffle he told me, "Thank you!" As we drove to daycare, I sneezed and he immediately said, "Bless you, Mommy!" And, as we were walking down the path into his classroom, he stepped aside so he could pass another parent and child and he looked up at them and said, "Excuse me!" So I smiled. I gotta be doing SOMETHING right, no?