Misery loves company, so CHOMP

A few weeks ago, E and I took the kids to KidVenture, a local indoor playground. We picked a day we knew traffic would be low, packed snacks and lunches, and made a morning of it. The kids had an absolute blast the entire three hours we were there.

Sadly, while they were having fun they also managed to pick up the cold virus from hell. Two days later, they were all oozing, sneezing balls of misery. Then they gave it to E and Todd.

The following Monday, Micah started biting kids at his daycare. It was an awful week, culminating in him actually drawing blood on Thursday when he bit his best friend on the back. Friday, we left for Atlanta where we stayed until Monday morning, and so I was spared a phone call telling me my child had finally snapped and shivved a classmate with a toy truck axle.

This week, I had a Plan to cure Micah's behavior. It involved a chart depicting each metric, spaces for stickers when he did what he was supposed to, and a reward if he went all week in each category. I got his daycare teachers in on it, and we posted the chart on the wall in his classroom under his hook. To my surprise, it actually WORKED. He went the whole week with only one small scratching incident and one kicking episode. For a 3-year-old, that's pretty much above average.

But I still couldn't figure out what had sparked the whole biting spree to begin with. It wasn't until this Thursday evening it finally hit me: what in the past has made Micah turn into a raging asshole with no other discernible stimuli? EARS.

I called the doctor yesterday morning and scheduled an appointment. "Symptoms? Uh, he's being a jerk? Fever, no. Pulling at his ears, no. Told us his ear hurt, NO. He is being a turd. And he's not eating well. Yes, I realize he's three."

Sure enough, both of my symptomless child's ears are infected. He joins the ranks of his cousin, aunt, and father, all of whom also currently have ear infections. Today, after one dose of antibiotics and with a bit of ibuprofen in his system, he's clearly feeling much better. I'm just wishing I'd figured things out sooner. You know, BEFORE he tried to bite everyone in his class. Not to mention the whole suffering-in-silence-for-days thing.

Anyway, he's on the mend now. I suppose I can cancel that rabies shot I had scheduled for him and return the muzzle. Turns out we won't be needing them after all.