Monday, July 6, 2009

Biting and Signing

If the compulsion to bite is hereditary, then we don't stand a chance. Bill was a biter. I'm told I was a biter. The small, perfect teeth impressions sometimes found on my arms or shoulders aren't tattoos. Matthew bites when he gets overly excited and when you least expect it. Pulling him off when he has already latched on with his teeth is NOT an option. Matthew has all his teeth except for the second molars.

the chewy tubeI wince. I cry a little from the pain. If his chewy tube is within reach, I offer it to him. (The Chewy Tube is an oral motor tool designed to develop biting and chewing skills).'Tis better to bite the chewy tube than Mommy or Daddy. I firmly say, "No bite" and "Ow. That hurt Mommy." He knows how to sign hurt.

He bit Bill on the shoulder one evening. Bill, startled and in pain, and firmly said, "No bite." Matthew looked Bill in the eye and signed 'hurt'.

To make sure Matthew understood that correctly, he bit Bill again. "No bite." Matthew looked at him again and signed 'hurt' again. "Yes, (grrr) that hurt Daddy".

One more time! "Ow, that hurt Daddy." Matthew signed 'hurt' then moved on to play with a toy. Meanwhile, Daddy disappeared into the bathroom to look at his new bruises.

Little stinker! Hmmm...next on the list of sign words to learn: "Sorry".

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I shouldn't laugh, but it's cute the way you wrote it! Out Matthew's teeth sharp and pointy too. Lily had wicked teeth! Love the chewy tube, didn't know about that with Lily. It looks small and easy to hold on to.

Monica Crumley said...

Oh, I feel for you and Bill. We're in the same boat right now. I think it's when he gets tired or frustrated and our shoulders are perfectly aligned for his teeth to sink in. It hurts like crazy, doesn't it?!

Anonymous said...

Hey, thanks for passing on the chewy tube photo. Ally isn't a big person-biter anymore, but she can't seem to let go of her pacifier because she also uses it for teething, and she doesn't seem to like her other chewing options. As you know, she is constantly teething, so we might give it a try! Regarding Matthew, have you ever tried checking out the book "Teeth are not for Biting" at the library? We used that when Ally was in a brief parent-biting phase, and it gave us a couple of mantras to repeat whenever she started biting ("Ouch, biting hurts!" and "Take a little break, get a hug, chew a chewy toy", which are quotes from the book that she recognized when we repeated them, because we always used the same intonation).

- Amy on Brookview

Anonymous said...

Yep Ria, I guess the cat is out of the bag... Matthew comes from a long line of biters on our side of the family. Like Bill, I was a biter. (Of course,I only bit on the side of justice! ;) ) And my kids were both biters. In fact, when Sarah was 2 and we were working her through her biting phase, one day I penned a note of apology to the dear babysitter that I had bitten (surely it was provoked!) when I was 2. No sooner had I written the apology and the positive words of outlook that Sarah was paying me back on her behalf, but getting better as she hadn't bitten me for days and WHAM! Out of no where Sarah chomps me, on me bum no less!!!! so, the moral of the story is never brag that the current undesirable behavior is over with... words like that just come back to bite you in the... well anyway, this is a G rated blog, so moving on...
love,
Your silly sis in law Lisa... okay, okay, Kris :) (Lisa is my older sister) :)

Beverly said...

cute photo. Noah had that chewy tube too

To Love Endlessly said...

oh geez...Marissa bit me while feeding 3 days ago and broke the skin. it is so, so painful...I can't imagine a whole mouthful of teeth chomping down. ouch! I need to work on signing hurt. Marissa watches the signing video regularly too although she's not using them just yet.

Monica said...

Wow, Matthew looks so much older, I haven't been away that long have I??? Yes, Adam had the same chewy and sorry but I like Lily found myself giggling I so remember those days, one of Adam's most used signs was "sorry"!!! Good luck!!