humble pie

In the spirit of balance, here's a disappointing update on my little monkey.

On Thursday, Ben bit a kid at day care. Hard enough to leave a mark that I saw hours later, but he did not break the skin.

He's been doing great with not using his pacifier at all during play time and leaving his blanket in the crib.
But it's a new thing.
When he's frustrated or angry, he chomps.
Without a plug, he goes for people.

It raises all my old doubts/reservations about the day care he goes to.
But he went for me this weekend.

*sigh*

It's a horrible, horrible feeling.
I know he feels bad, too.
He brought it up to me every day this weekend.
He told me the kid's name, that he bit him, on the arm, and that he was sorry.
These conversations were unprovoked.
Is his little 22 month old brain dealing with guilt?!
And is it enough to make it never ever happen again?

We're obviously treating it as a very serious offense.
And when he's over-tired, I'm back to volunteering the pacifier.
It just seems the lesser of two evils.

Any other ideas?