JDaniel has decided that he is ready to feed himself oatmeal in the morning. He tries to use a spoon to eat and when he gets tired or frustrated with it he moves to his hands. I am pretty sure oatmeal shouldn’t be eaten with your hands. By the time he has finished eating he has oatmeal hanging from his chin, on the tip of his nose, up and down his sleeves, all over the highchair, on the floor, and somehow on back on his pajamas ( I don’t know how it get on his bottom.) I literally strip him down to his diaper in the kitchen so that oatmeal doesn’t fall off of him as he leaves the kitchen. Self-feeding is a great developmental step. I just don’t know why it has to redecorate my kitchen.

JDaniel is at the age when he knows what he should do and what he shouldn’t. He isn’t allowed into the street without holding an adult’s hands. So, he goes to the end of the driveway and hangs his toes off the driveway and into the street. You probably have seen your children do similar things. He glances to the side, he looks quickly to the right and to the left, and there is a deadening silence. These are all telltale signs that something is up at my house. I know of have years of “time outs” coming to both JDaniel and I. His will be time to reflect on his actions and mine will be whether this is the right battle to choose.

We took JDaniel to a Touch-A-Truck event in Greenville on Saturday. It was cold and blustery. None of us was dressed in warm enough clothes. We went through and sat JDaniel on each truck, bus, and backhoe. He tried to steer each piece of equipment and loved each minute of it. I had packed a picnic lunch that we ended up eating in the car due to the weather. JDaniel inhaled everything. He was promised that when we finished we could revisit some of the equipment. As soon as we finished lunch, we added layers to his clothing with some things I had in the trunk of the car and headed back to the displays. I thought he would head to the fire truck, but he headed right to the city bus. It had a little computer next to the steering wheel that he clicked happily on. He could have spent the rest of the day on the bus.

It was great to see his eyes light up as he experienced each new piece of equipment. Actually it is great to see anything that lights up JDaniel’s eyes. Most of them are things I have seen for a thousand times. Now that I get to experience them with my son it makes them seem new for me too.

I was fortunate to get to spend the weekend with my in-laws this past weekend. Last night at dinner everyone reached out to hold hands to say grace even JDaniel. He has never done that before. He has seen us pray before meals all his life and usually chooses to fuss during grace. Last night he put one hand in mine and one in his grandfathers. It was something I will always remember.