For your entertainment

We've been without a camera for the last several weeks since it was left behind during a trip and is "in the mail". Unfortunately I've missed capturing many cute moments, but here are a few of my favorites from my photo files to keep you entertained until it's arrival. Our family Christmas picture, taken by our neighbor and friend Julie. She was very patient -- I think this was picture number 18!
My mom and Levi on a visit she and Dad made last fall.
Future pyromaniac? Yikes!
More picts from the photo op turned bad.

More bathtime!

OCD?

As a parent I have often come close to paranoia wondering if my kids are normal. For example, when Sam was a baby one of his eyes was very slightly crossed, but I worried that he would end up with a significant problem. Turned out to be nothing. When He was about a year old he was diagnosed with Eutricaria Pigmentosa, a rare skin disorder that causes periodic rashes and disappears before age 5. I was worried that it wouldn't disappear, that it would turn into some life-threatening disease. Again, nothing. Of course, I admit to spending hours googling topics such as these, only to scare myself silly and then realize how silly I really am being. So I now recognize these neurotic notions for what they are when they pop into my head and take them with a grain of salt.

This is why I can jokingly say that I wonder lately if both my boys don't have OCD, that is, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Here are a few evidences of Sam's:

• As we daily make our walk through the hallways of our apartment building, through the parking garage and to our car, Sam has a certain ritual he must keep. He has to tap certain parts of the walls. He has to walk on the arrows painted on the floor of the parking garage. If he forgets to do any of these things, he has to run back to do it, and if I try to stop him from doing so he throws a fit!


• After washing his hands in the bathroom sink, Sam has a little toy frog that fits perfectly into the cup he uses to rinse his mouth after brushing his teeth. The frog must go in the cup, and the cup must be filled to the top with water, "so the frog can have a bath, because he likes water". (See top picture).


• He is obsessed with playing the drums, and more broadly, with playing any musical instrument he can get his hands on. ("Mom, we need to buy a squeeze-box!")

Levi has even shown a few tendencies:

• He loves to flip his lips with his fingers, or with anything else he can hold in his hand. He'll have a toy in his hand, then use it to flip his lips. Lately he has taken to flipping my lips with his fingers while he nurses!


• He loves to be naked. He's become quite adept at crawling, and after his bath does everything he can to escape before being clothed.


• As of about a week ago, he's obsessed with eating cheerios.

Thankfully, I not only google but also read up on child development and talk to other moms, and I realize these things are *relatively* normal. Knowing this, I get a lot of good laughs when these things don't drive me crazy!

Rounding the corner

Well, I think we've made it to potty-training success! Sam has gone to preschool for 2 weeks with his "big boy underpants" on without any accidents. He also hasn't had even a small accident in several days. He hasn't mastered nighttime or #2 yet, but it's clear that these things will come soon.



To celebrate, last Saturday we all went out to McDonald's for lunch and then to Child's Play Toy Store to pick up Sam's potty reward, a marble run.



Incidentally, ever since he's been on track with going to the potty a lot of his defiance has dissipated. It makes me wonder which came first -- did he decide to cooperate with potty training as well as other things in life, or did his success in potty training lead to feeling more grown-up, thus acting more grown-up? Any thoughts?