Perhaps she'll be good at Ms. PacMan

One particularly lovely souvenir of our visit to Mr. MOM's hometown last week was a sudden increase in DOM's biting frequency. In other words, if she was mad, she would bite. It was an outgrowth of being relentlessly badgered by her 3-year-old cousin and her not being able to express her anger or frustration in words. Even though he instigated many of the episodes, she still should not have bitten.

Having a child who bites is especially frustrating, in my opinion. As one of my girlfriends points out, many day cares will expel a child who bites repeatedly (which, considering how much we spend on day care each month, would save us a lot of money, but then I would have to quit work and would lose both the extra income and my sanity, so it's best to try to keep her where she is for a while longer. Like, say, until kindergarten. Or college.). Her daughter went through a biting phase, too. Her advice? Always call attention to the child's mouth (tapping it while saying "no biting") so that (s)he knows that it was the bite that was unacceptable. After nearly a week of such behavioral therapy, I can now say that DOM has stopped biting (me, at least), but she still really, really wants to do it. You can see the gleam in her eyes. That, and the forward lunge that accompanies each episode. At least she has stopped biting in time for the mosquitoes to start.