BULLY

My name is Molly, and my 21 month old daughter is a bully.

I love her to death, but Lila ATTACKS kids. She walks up and grabs their faces. She pinches cheeks. She fish hooks mouths. She sometimes pulls hair. It isn't done with an angry face. It is almost like she thinks that is what she is supposed to do. I think it might be that her sisters kill her with kindness, getting in her face a lot. When she pushes them away or whacks at their faces it doesn't bother them (they just give her a little space). And I am starting to think that when I remind her not to grab faces, it makes her do it even more.

Worst part? That she seems to seek out the small, timid ones (which I'd like to think means at least she knows not to pick on people bigger than her :))

But it is mortifying and it really upsets some mothers. I have to admit, sometimes these mothers annoy me because they glare at Lila and me afterward. As if she A) is the first kid to ever do it, and B) is really the devil and not just a toddler who is going through a phase. Wrong as it is, I am tempted to tell some of these women that "I'm really sorry, but she can smell weakness." But then we'll definitely get kicked out of gymnastics class.