Sam's first time out

The last few weeks I've been struggling to deal with Sam's newfound interest in biting. However, he doesn't bite anyone else except me. While I'm relieved that he's not biting other kids, etc - it is extremely frustrating to play with him and then yelp in pain from his sharp teeth!

I've tried talking to him sternly and touching my finger to his lips and saying "NO BITING." I pull him off of me and sit him on the floor and playtime is over as soon as he bites. But, this is not really working.

A few friends suggested that we try a "time out." I wasn't sure he was old enough yet to understand it, but it was worth a shot. Last night, Brad and I were playing ball with him in the basement and he bit me twice. By the second time, I picked him up, brought him over to a corner of the room without toys, sat him down, and VERY VERY sternly said "No biting, you are in time out because you bit mommy. You have to stay here for a minute." He didn't really understand at first and tried to follow me. I brought him back over to the corner and sat him down and sternly re-explained time out.

This time, he understood and began sobbing uncontrollably. He stayed in the corner and threw himself on the ground crying hysterically (yes, he is SUCH a drama queen!). He stopped crying after about 20 seconds and then just watched me for permission to leave the corner. After 30 seconds, I told him he could leave the corner and he came over to us, looking SO sad and pitiful and gave me a kiss.

So far, no biting since then - we'll see if it worked! Fingers crossed!

In other news, our dog Lucy has learned to fetch a ball in the house. For years we've tried to teach her this, to no avail. She can fetch a tennis ball in the lake, but not on land (no idea why). But now that Sam likes to play ball with us, she decided she wants to as well. Sam threw a ball and the dog picked it up and brought it back over. He was totally blown away by this and gave us a look of "WHOA! I had no idea she could do that!" We didn't either! Clearly she was in need of some attention last night. Funny dog.