Bullying Already?

There's a little girl at Ella's preschool, Ava, who, in my opinion, is nothing but BAD NEWS.  She pushes Ella around (even made Ella "crash" into the toilet the other day....seriously, where was the supervision?!), play fights with her, tries to take toys, and teaches her bad words.

Here's our conversation on Monday:
Ella-Daddy was pissing me off.
Me-Oh no, we don't say that word.
Ella- (ignoring me now, talking to Memaw Johnson) Daddy was really pissing me off.
Me- Ella!  We don't say that word!
Ella- (still ignoring me)  He was REALLY PISSING ME OFF!
Me- Where did you hear that?  (Fearing she'd say from me or this weekend's trip to the campground)
Ella- Ava

Grrrrr.....seriously? 

What's confusing to me though is that Ella's imagination is starting to really go into overdrive too.  (Last weekend, she told me she didn't feel good and got sick.  In the background, I hear Memaw saying, "Quit lying to your mom!  You did not!")  It's hard to tell what to believe. Ella frequently tells me that Ava gets time outs, and that she (Ella) doesn't.  This makes me think that Ava is starting trouble, and not that it's two-sided.  Then, she follows it up saying Ava got a spanking.  This makes me think she's lying.  Ava sometimes just gets "shooed away" from Ella.  I believe that too.

I don't want to teach her to hit this little girl, so we've been practicing how to deal with her at home.  Nick calls it, "Mommy's tough girl routine."  This involves putting hands on hips, looking Ava in the eye, and yelling, "You stop it right now!  We don't act like that!"  Sometimes, shaking a finger around is also involved.(Seriously, this is the cutest thing to see acted out!)  I tell her to make a scene so that a teacher will come over and break it up without Ella tattling (a nasty habit that will rear its ugly head soon enough, I'm sure!).  For real though, the next step is teaching her head locks.  Ava better watch out!

Brady is also having a hard time with a bully in kindergarten.  That little boy punched him in the mouth the other day!  Kristin is going through similar rehearsals at her house.  Where do these kids even see that stuff?!  We need one strong, brave kid to stand up for the other ones...Reagan, looks like it's up to you kid.  :)

Until next time....