A Mom's Denial

Look at this face.  It's one of a cherub.  An angel placed here on earth to brighten our lives.

Now that you've got such a sweet image in your head, let me tell you a little story about my...cherub.

One evening this week I walked in to pick up my little darling and the first words out of the gal's mouth that watches him is, "He was a meanie today!"

"Wait," I say.  "You can't possibly mean the sweet little boy with this adorable face!"

"Oh yes," she says.  "He pulled everyone's hair today!  He brought tears to my eyes!  And that little boy over there?  Well, he got two handfuls of his hair and started pulling!"

"What?!  Not the sweet little boy with the kind, loving face."

I was in a state of disbelief.  I mean, my sweet boy has always been just that!  Sweet!  Well, aside for the occassional pinch which leaves a good bruise.  Or that head butt last week that bloodied his Daddy's nose.

And no, the evidence of a hair in his mouth and one in each hand did not make me a believer. 

And no, that's not a joke.  He literally had hair in each hand and in his mouth.  But, he probably just got those from scooting around on the floor.

Right?

Right???

So I drop him off this morning and the gal is there again.  I go on and on about how sweet my sweet boy had been this morning.  "Oh you just won't believe what a little darling he's been!"

And then, I saw it.

Cooper reached over, and took the pacifier right out of another boy's mouth.  That pacifier was on a straight route to Coop's mouth.  Luckily I was there to intervene.  I gasped in horror.  "Cooper!  No!  That's not yours!"

And then he looked at me like, "Whatchu talkin' 'bout lady?  No?  Yeah, right."  It looked something like this.

He then proceeded to reach over and take the pacifier...AGAIN.  The poor boy.  He was so confused.  Why did this kid keep taking his beloved pacifier from him?

In an effort to keep my little, ahem, angel from taking this little boy's pacifier again I decided to give Cooper his own. 

Yeah!  That'll stop him!

Or not.

He reached again like that pacifier owed him a trip to his mouth.  I again stopped him, telling him, "Cooper!  No!  You've got your own!"

I then looked at the poor gal that's keeping him today.  Poor girl.  As I left, the other kid started crying.  "Well," I thought, "she's gonna have a long day."

I promptly called my husband wanting to tell him what I had just witnessed.  And to no surprise, he was so proud. 

My little sweetheart...

My angel...

My puddin' face...

has now became...

*GASP!*

A bully.

Now, personally I think it's a classic case of  "Little Man Syndrome."  You see, Cooper isn't exactly the biggest kid in his nursery room.  In fact, he's the smallest. 

Not that he has much of a chance.

And it's not that he's the smallest.  I would venture to say that he's probably the longest.  But the bulkiest?  Not a chance.

But I bet he's going to be the fastest.  And truthfully, what good is bulk when you can't catch your prey?