Vampire Kid

So the other day X and I were cuddling on the bed before his nap, he was rubbing my arm for comfort, when suddenly I felt a big pinch in my upper arm which turned out to be a bite from my sweet little X! OUCH! I was so shocked that he'd bitten me because it was such a calm time. I can only think that my juicy arm lying over his stomach was too much temptation for my little vampire and he wanted to see what it tasted like or at least how it felt to bite.

I immediately said "NO! We don't bite people" and kind of tapped his cheek before leaving the room to calm down. He knew he'd done something wrong and stayed quietly on the bed. I went downstairs to think of what to do and remembered something I'd read--give them alternative things to bite. So, I grabbed a towel and some Tylenol, in case he was teething or had pain from his cold he was getting over and went back upstairs. I gave him the Tylenol and then told him again that we don't bite people because it hurts but that if we need to bite we can bite a towel. He accepted that easily and even had fun practicing "biting" the towel I gave him.

Before bed, we were reviewing (with Joe present so that he'd know what happened), the fact that we don't bite. I knew X understood because he then rattled off a list of no-no's for us. "No pushing people. No bonking people. No biting people." Bonking refers to running into people with a toy, especially his shopping cart. This is also a problem we are working on. Does anybody else have little vampires or such in their families? What do you do? I feel like his aggressiveness reflects badly on our parenting or something so I want to find alternative ways to use his energy. Sometimes when he wants to throw things, I'll pull out the laundry basket and have him throw balls into it, or if he keeps knocking his cousin's things over I'll build a tower of blocks just for him to knock over or ram the little grocery cart into. Anything else?