Who's Biting Who?

I always thought that I would have to worry about Adler biting. But the tables are turned.

I recently was summoned for a conference at Austen's daycare to discuss his biting. "Thanks for coming," said his teacher, who apologized for bringing me in since it had now appeared in the days since she scheduled the conference that the biting had died down. But only two days later do I get a phone call that Austen had bit three kids in one day at his school. Okay, so one time was because one of the other kids pushed him down and he got back up and bit - nevermind that he didn't bite the kid that pushed him down, just the one closest to him - but I can rationalize that one. Anyway, the daycare told me they were going to take a more stern approach and then refer him to a behavioral psychologist if the biting didn't stop. I don't know how a behavioral psychologist can assess an 18-month-old but I don't want to find out. I want Austen to stop biting.

The problem is that he wasn't doing this at home so how do I help enforce no biting then? Well, I didn't have to wait long to find out as the day after this incident, he bit me three times within a 30-minute period. I took a step back and assessed why he was biting - it was in the morning, he was happy to see me and snuggling with me when he put his teeth on me - maybe his way of expressing love or dismay that I had been working like a dog (sorry, Adler) for the past two weeks and wasn't around much. At any rate, I definitely was strong in my reprimand of 'no biting' and telling him kisses only. I really felt like I was talking to Adler since this is how I taught her when she was a puppy to kiss instead of nip with her sharp, little baby teeth.

The good thing was that we were headed for a long vacation weekend in Michigan, and had time to work with Austen on the no biting. And, it seemed to have worked the first two days he was back at daycare. But the last two days there have been incidents. So I guess he's 2 for 4. I'm just hoping there's no report in his cubby when I pick him up today to get us over the .500 mark. And, if anyone has any surefire remedies for getting your toddler to stop biting, please do share!