The Bully

This morning Avril and I ventured over to Willow Park to play.  The park with the rubbery ground is one of Avril's favorite hang out spots.  We were excited to swing and slide, and go see the ducks in the pond.
Not long after we arrived, two other moms showed up with their cute kids- one boy, and one girl.  The girl was Avril's same age, about 19 months old, and the boy was just a little older.  We were playing in close proximity and they even shared some crackers with us to feed the ducks in the pond.
Avril was having a grand old time playing on the jungle gym, minding her own business, when out of nowhere, the little girl came running full speed at Avril, and pushed her over backwards.  Avril fell back and hit her head on the hard, metal floor beneath her.  I watched in horror as Avril's sweet little face turned confused at why this little girl would do this, and then she burst in to tears, screaming at the top of her lungs.  The little girl's mom came over and repeatedly apologized for her daughter's behavior.  She told her to come over to Avril and say "I'm sorry," but this only made things worse.  She told Avril she was sorry and then grabbed Avril's face with both hands and pinched her so hard that it drew blood!  Avril now has red fingernail marks and a cut on her face.  Of course, Avril started wailing even harder and I could not get her to calm down.
I know that this little girl's behavior had hurt Avril physically, but I honestly think it hurt her feelings more.  This was the first time anyone had ever been mean to Avril and I don't think her innocent, sweet little mind could understand why someone would be mean for no reason.  When Avril finally stopped crying, I put her in a swing and started to push her.  She sat there, gazing off with sad, big, brown eyes.  She wouldn't let me stop pushing her in the swing for a whole hour.  Normally she gets bored after a few short minutes.
The little boy's mom came over and told me that her friend's little girl did this often to other little kids and she wasn't sure why.  She also told me that she could tell that Avril had a total sweetheart personality.  She was right about that.  There is no other word that sums up Avril's personality more than the word, "sweetheart."
The little girl's mom came over and must've apologized like 15 times to me.  She was a perfectly nice mom, so I have no idea where the little girl learned this behavior.  It got me thinking that I wonder if this little girl will grow up to be a bully.  She did not have any siblings so I can't understand what would motivate a 19 month old little girl to beat up another sweet little girl.
This got me thinking even more, about how I don't understand when people have done things that are mean to me, when I rack my brain trying to think of the reason, or what I did wrong.  The other night I was talking to Jesse about weaknesses and what he thought my main weakness was and he said it is probably my over-sensitivity, which is dead on true.  He knows me very well.  Of course, its probably 10 times worse now that I'm pregnant.  I HATE how sensitive I am... how I can't just let things bounce off me.  If someone does something that hurts me, I really internalize it and let it get to me.  I even cried because the little girl was mean to Avril!  I can see more and more of Avril's personality developing, and I get scared that she will be as sensitive as I am, and will let others who are not so tender-hearted, hurt her.  I guess that's one of my new mom challenges... watching my sweet baby have to learn that life is not always a happy place of butterflies and "li-li's" (flowers).  Of course, Jesse has a behavior modification solution for everything.  He says not to worry, that he can teach Avril how to toughen up a little.  Of course, we adore Avril's sweetheart personality.  She melts our hearts each and every day with her little gap-toothed grin, and slobbery little girl kisses.  We are so lucky to have such a sweetheart daughter.  We love our little Av.