Flashback: Kara the Biter

I am not sure what made me think of this yesterday, but I feel the need to memorialize Kara's biting stage.  Jack and Anna were not biters, so Kara's tendency caught me a bit by surprise.  Beginning around age one and continuing to about 2, Kara went through a biting stage.  Well, actually it was less biting and more bearing of teeth and lunging.  She particularly liked to do this to Jack and Anna.  I remember them rolling around on the floor, fighting over some toy and Kara screeching as she opened her mouth wide and attempted to bite Anna's back.  She often aimed for the back, which never worked and looked pretty funny to Thomas and me (model parents that we are).

But, my favorite biting story, and the one that came to mind yesterday, happened when she was in daycare in Tennessee.  She was around 16 months old and Thomas got a call at work.  We often got calls--Jack bumped his head, Anna scratched her finger, Kara skinned her knee.  It was a pretty regular occurrence.  This one was different.  This call was telling Thomas that Kara had bitten another child and left a significant mark on the child's arm.  They were careful to refer to the victim as "child"; no pronouns were used to protect the hapless child's identity.  As Thomas was pondering what to do with this information, he heard another phone in the office ring.  Shortly thereafter, one of his coworkers came into his office and plopped in the chair across from him. 

"Can you believe some kid bit Nate?  I wish they could control those kids.  Has the biter gotten to Kara?"

Thomas was quiet for a moment, and then had to reluctantly admit that Kara was The Biter.  I believe they shared an akward laugh.

I loved that story.  I could just picture the scene in the office with the phones ringing one after another after the careful use of language to protect all parties involved.  On a somewhat related note, I loved it when Jack and Anna got older and the teachers would report on pick-up that one of them had done something to another child.  The first time it happened, I asked their teacher who they hit, kicked, scratched, etc., not knowing that was protected information.  When the teachers said they couldn't tell me, Anna or Jack would happily announce, "I scratched Gracie," or "I pushed Abram."  The teachers would just shrug.

Kara has gotten over her biting phase.  Until recently, she would still threaten Jack or Anna "I'm going to bite you," but she (almost) never actually did.  I believe poor Nate was the only victim to have a significant mark.