Vicious 20 month

[ticklebyday]

Dd (bless her) looks as though butter wouldn't melt (ha ha!!!!) has the most vicious temper.

Yesterday she bit me (really nasty, huge bruise) whilst having a tantrum, she also bites ds if he annoys her. She also has a tendancy to hit out if things aren't going her own way, and even bites herself when particularly stroppy about something.

Is this the start of the terrible two's???? Any suggestions on how to handle this and nip (excuse the pun) it in the bud?

Are there any parents of biters out there? HELP.

Ticklebyday, we've not had biting, but dd has tried to hit me before, at which point I get up and move somewhere else saying very clearly 'I'm not going to play with you/stay by you if you hit me'. It still happens from time to time, but I think she's getting the message. HTH!

Thanks Pob

Any other advice would be gratefully recieved.

I'd suggest removing her from the situation to spend some "quiet time" calming down. Explain that if she bites etc she will have to play alone. We used to send DS1 to sit on the bottom stair if he got over excited or threw a huge tantrum. It was always more of a calming down spot rather than a Naughty Stair. DS1 always stayed there until he came to apologise (even from 20 months!) DS2 however...

You may find that her behaviour improves as her language improves. I have 2 friend with, um, "over excitable" children () and they calmed down when their speech caught up with their understanding.

Try a search on 'biting' on Mumsnet, Ticklebyday, as this subject has been talked about before at some length. HTH!