Bitten

I'm jumping on the blog band wagon. A little late, I know, but I have always been years behind any trends, so this is consistent with everything I do. I've been feeling a little stifled of late - work, commuting, baby...work, commuting, baby. I hope this little blog will give me a place to put my thoughts into concrete words and give myself a little space for coherence.

So, I go to pick up Madeline at daycare on Friday and there is an innocuous white paper slipped underneath her daily report card - "Madeline was bit today. She was lying on another child's cot during naptime/diapering and the other child bit her." Madeline's reponse - "cried". Then, a check mark by "skin broken". And 8 crooked little teeth marks emblazoned on her skinny little upper arm.

Now I am a very reasonable parent. Too reasonable, maybe even a pushover sometimes, but when I saw those words I felt the bile rising in my throat because this is the second time Madeline has been bit at daycare. The first time was completely unprovoked - she was dancing to "I'm gonna get you" - a strangely upbeat CD with mildly threatening lyrics - when another toddler bit her. Okay, so maybe her dancing style can be a little odd, or perhaps even annoying? to her classmates, or maybe the sheer joy with which she moves to the music can be overwhelming to the more melancholy sort, but did it really deserve a bite? This time, as the daycare director pointed out, she was lying on another kid's territory - his beloved $2 cot covered in stiff blue plastic and baby drool, so maybe she brought on the bite. Just like if women wear short skirts and tight tops, maybe they brought the attack on themselves. Yeah right.

So I rush to her room to find her - imagining blood and baby rabies oozing from her upper arm - ready to bare my own incisors for her defense- and there she is- happy as can be, dancing alone in the middle of the room. waving her arms, bite marks and all to the music, while the other babies swirl around her. That's my girl. Fiesty and clueless - fearless and free - she means everything to me.