The Irish Homecoming - No bark, but lots of bite! - a trip to the park that will not be forgotten

Colum had a trip that he has yet to forget, much to the chagrin of mother April

April Drew's son Colum had an encounter at a local park that he hasn’t forgotten, much to the chagrin of his mother.

It's one of those awkward moments in the park. Everything is going smoothly.  My son is happily climbing monkey bars, swinging off ropes and making dinner for his mommy in a make-shift wooden house.

It’s nice to sit back and see him interact with other kids. It’s even nicer (or so I thought) when a boy about eight months his junior gives him a cuddle.

At least I thought it was a cuddle until I heard an almighty scream. The little sweet angel, dressed in boyish blue dungarees with a Tommy Hilfiger coat and a black hat, sunk his teeth into my little boy’s left cheek.

It all looked so innocent on the approach. The little boy’s father, a thirty-something attractive looking dad donning a Munster rugby sweat suit (on weekends all the men in Limerick wear the same outfit) looked at me and smiled as both our kids were about to embrace.

“Awe,” I said

“Very cute,” he said.

And then it happened. The younger boy threw his arms around Colum’s neck, pulling him down to his level. Colum hugged him back while smiling with delight.

The little boy lunged his mouth forward for what we both thought was going to be a kiss, and firmly planted his full set of fully formed teeth into Colum’s cheek.

They spent 15 minutes before that running after each other in the park, playing on the same rides and kicking a football back and forth. This all ended abruptly when Colum, my 22-month-old, screamed from the top of his lungs while holding his cheek in an effort to ease the pain.

He ran to me faster than the speed of light and tucked his head into my lap while explaining through the tears that the little boy bit his face.

“Boy bite me Mommy, bite bite, bold, no bite,” he repeated over and over red faced and hurt.

As soon as he realized that the innocent looking embrace was in fact an attack on my son -- okay I’m being a little dramatic here -- the aforementioned father couldn’t apologize enough. Naturally I accepted his many attempts to say sorry and made it known that “every child will bite at one point or another.”

It still didn’t stop his apologizes. “He has never done this before,” said the dad numerous times.

“He must be teething, it’s the only explanation,” I said in an effort to make him feel better.

He tried to speak to the child in a disciplinary manner, but he was only 14-months. He was tiny, barely walking and I’ve no doubt didn’t mean to bite Colum so hard, or even probably bite him at all.

The father, after the 30th apology, left the park vowing that his son would “never do that again.”

Colum went to day care the next day and the staff in his room expressed immediate concern over the bite. The visible marks eventually turned into a massive bruise (which is just about fading now, 10 days later) and Colum forgot about the whole thing, or so I thought.

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Nster.com