I've got some serious mommy guilt going on today. Annika has started biting. Earlier this week, Annika bit me on the arm when we were playing. It wasn't hard enough to break the skin but I did have a red mark for a while. She was punished, of course. She was brought upstairs by Kris, had a talk with him and then a time out in her room and when she came out she had to apologize to me. Then Wednesday she bit James. She loves his feet (little feet, little toes! she exclaims all the time) and I had him sockless while we were outside sitting on the deck. She put one of his big toes in her mouth and clamped down. I don't know if it was my yelling at her to stop it or if I instinctively jerked him away or what but some of the skin tore and he now has a scab on his toe. Once again she was brought inside for a time out and a good talking to. Yesterday Kris ran upstairs quick to fix his contact and left both kids downstairs. He came rushing back down when he heard James screaming. Annika had bitten one of his fingers (no torn skin this time). This time he spanked her (which I hate - I hate spanking and I don't like that he does it - it's one of our parenting differences) and then gave her the same lecture (no biting, it hurts, blah, blah, blah) and a time out. What do we do? I don't want her to become a biter! Of course the mommy guilt comes in because I just started back to work. What if this is her way of lashing out that she's not getting enough attention or enough attention from me? One thing I'm going to do is keep the tv off. When I get home from work the tv is going off (if it's even on) until after the kids are in bed. We have a DVR, I don't need to watch tv shows when they're actually airing. If there's something I really want to watch, I can record it and watch it after the kids are asleep. I think this will force me to focus more on them at night. I can decompress with a mindless tv show after bed time. But what else can I do? I don't have a lot of opportunities to spend one on one time with her or James which is something else I feel terrible about. This weekend it's not going to happen either with Amanda's wedding and Mother's Day activities. And next weekend I have some home improvement projects lined up and then it's another wedding and James' baptism and Kris' birthday party Memorial Day weekend. There is just never enough time! I did get some good one on one time with her last night when James took about an hour nap in his crib. But I can't guarantee that will happen on a regular basis. And what about James one on one time? I've got some thinking to do on this. Anyway, if you have any ideas about what's bringing on the biting and how we can stop it, please leave me a comment or send me an e-mail.