Is your child being bullied?

Wow. My title looks like those of self-help articles/books. But no. I chose that because Lia is being bullied.

I don't know, "bullied" may be a strong word, but I don't have any alternative for it yet. But what do you call this situation: Lia greets the kid with an enthusiastic, "Hi!!!" and she receives a "No, Lia, don't come near! Don't play with me!". And when Lia attempts to get near the kid, the kid pusher her (in front of me), and then does a hand gesture that says "I'll knock you off".

Almost every time, the kid does something to Lia and Lia ends up always verbally abused, and sometimes physically hurt. And Lia keeps on wanting to play with the kid, while the kid shoots her with dagger looks and an extended "Don't, or else" arm.

Just this week Lia went over to where the kid was, said "Hi!" and the kid twisted Lia's foot. How about that, huh?

Neil is just so mad, he wants to pinch the kid the next time he sees her. Uh-oh. Me? I still don't know how to deal with it. I just assure Lia of our love every time!

Terrible Two's -- not true!

That's because we're experiencing it from Lia -- and she's not even two yet! Her favorite words: "Ayaw", "No", "Don't like". And when we're scolding her she scolds us back. Actually, there's no use scolding her because we just end up laughing.

How do we deal with it? We give up. Really! Because we've learned that if we keep warning her to not do this and that, she only either laughs it off, or does it again and again.

Oh well. I guess toddlers aren't at all adorable if they weren't so smart (or smart alecky)!