Biting

We have biters on our hands. Fortunately for me, they are not biting while nursing. They've done it a few times, although I know that it was usually accidental. If they bite on purpose, the nursing session is promptly over. This is always extremely upsetting to them.

We call Teagan "big love." She has a huge smile and will grab on and give us a huge hug. The problem...the big hug is usually accompanied by a big "love bite" on the shoulder. Sometimes we'll receive love bites on our legs or arms as well. Saying "ow" or "no" has proven to be hilarious. Our new tactic is to ignore her entirely. If she bites, we put her down and do something else.

The real biting issue that we're experiencing is between the girls. Quinn has a very strong personality. She's determined and knows what she wants. The problem is that what she wants is usually what Teagan has (no surprise, I know). The other problem is that Quinn almost always gets what she wants. This results in a show-down for the toy, followed by tears on Teagan's end. Teagan then tries to fight back resulting in Quinn grabbing her hand or arm and chomping down. I know that in this situation, Teagan sounds like the victim. Don't be fooled though. She has been known to chomp down in Quinn's arm, back or even head out of frustration as well.

I've been reading about toddlers recently. Sometimes I'm not watching closely enough to know exactly what happened. When we do witness the biting, the biter is usually told "no biting" and is then ignored. One expert said that immediately taking away attention is the best way to handle it. A one-year old can obviously not understand a lengthy speech about consequences.

I know that many of you have experienced situations like this. What worked well for you?

For the Love of Cake!

We spent this past weekend down in Connecticut visiting Jenn's family. Yes, this meant another flight with the dynamic duo. Flying with twins is becoming increasingly more difficult. These two never...stop...moving. We flew home on an 8pm flight. The girls normally go to bed at 7pm, so we assumed a quiet flight with two sleepy babies. No dice. I think I walked the aisles with Quinn 20 times. Thankfully, we each had two seats to ourselves so the girls could look out the window. They both finally crashed when we were getting close to landing (almost 10pm!).

We had a lovely weekend in Connecticut. Jenn's family threw the girls and Jenn a birthday party (the 3 May girls!). T&Q made some new friends. Jenn's sister Katie's boyfriend, Pete, (say that 5x fast) has two young kids, T & B. The girls loved watching the older kids and these two were fantastic with the babies. Chrissie even got the girls gluten-free and dairy-free cake :) As you can see from the pictures, the cakes were very much enjoyed!

Our friends, Amy and Liz, came from Boston for the party. Amy took the fantastic pictures below.

A clean face and outfit...not for long!

Diving into the cake for the first time!

Sooo good!

This kid can't shove cake in fast enough!

Thinking about the delicious flavours

Examining cake on her plate

Happy Birthday Finn!

Happy 2nd birthday to our youngest boy! It seems like just yesterday that we were driving through Amish country in Ohio to pick you up!

We love you Finn! You are the most amazing big brother.