Whack-A-Mole!

Working in day care lets you see the funny side of babies and children. Sometimes that "funny" side can be kind of painful, though. Today Jessa, my oldest, decided to turn Arnie, my oldest boy, into a Whack-A-Mole, you know, that arcade game where you try to smash the moles to win tickets. I don't know what made Jessa want to turn poor Arnie into a mole, but she cut loose on him before I could stop her.

I was putting some things away in the babies' cubbies when I heard this thud sound. I turned around and saw Jessa whacking away on Arnie with a rattle. Arnie had the funniest what-did-I-do-to-deserve-this-? look on his face. I know I shouldn't have laughed, but the whole scene was tememdously funny. Yes, little Arnie was on the wrong end of the stick, er, rattle, but it was funny. I can't help it; it was funny! Of course, I quickly grabbed the rattle from Jessa and sternly told her that we don't whack our friends, but I laughed about the incident for the rest of the day.

This cute little incident highlighted a curious situation between Jessa and Arnie. Arnie adores Jessa. He loves it when she pays attention to him. Arnie can't crawl yet, but during tummy time he follows Jessa around by scooting on his stomach. When he's in the walker he squawks until Jessa comes over to him. He just loves her. Jessa's feelings for Arnie, though, are a little complicated.

When Arnie first arrived in my class, Jessa quickly develolped an intense jealousy of him. She wasn't jealous of Gregory, who's younger and cuter than Arnie, but she couldn't stand it if I paid any attention to Arnie. It got so bad that I had to corral Jessa whenever I fed Arnie because if I didn't she would pull on my pants' leg and fight to climb into my lap to the point of trying to push Arnie out of my arms. But in the past few weeks Jessa's jealousy has mysterioulsy lessened. She seems to enjoy him now, at least a little. She likes making Arnie laugh and now she lets me feed him in peace. Maybe she realizes that Arnie can actually be a playmate and not just a competitor for my attention. Whatever the reason, Jessa now seems to want to be Arnie's friend--to a point.

Jessa likes Arnie but she apparently feels he needs to be reminded of his inferior--to her-- status from time to time. So, on occasion, she will whack, or try to whack, him in the head. Jessa really likes to go for Arnie's head. Oh, she'll settle for his back, legs, or butt, but if she can get him in the noggin it's party time. I never know when Jessa plans to strike. I have to watch her with Arnie like the proverbial hawk. Most of the time I catch her before she strikes, but not always. Today was a "not always" day. Jessa got Arnie on the back, on the butt, and in the head. She had quite a party! But I managed to cut the celebration short. Arnie was rescued from being kept in his place and Jessa was duly chastised. And you know what? Tomorrow I'll have to do it all over again. Welcome to day care!