A few things about the kiddos

As you already know, I think that John gets much of his personality from me.  His mind seems to work much like mine, though it presents itself in different ways.  As I would think it would since he is a different person, and a male person at that.

As John approaches his second birthday (and I will write a more John detailed post next week on his actual birthday), I am beginning to see his little personality develop at a rapid pace.  And his tendency toward obsession is obvious.

For example, he loves to line things up.  His trains, his stuffed animals, any other objects that could be categorized into the same group (he is very aware if two things shouldn't be grouped together, and will quickly correct me if I try to quickly clean up by mixing things together in baskets--he wants things categorized!!)  In fact, his newest "activity," is to line his and Ada's stuffed animals and dolls onto the ledge of the tv cabinet, then he names each one of the animals, and then he takes them down again and starts over.

 I know that this is really too dark to see, but he was so into his little game that night (the rest of us were finishing up dinner), and I had to get a picture for the record books.  Once he had them lined up "just right," he would start at the beginning of the line, naming the animals, "baby, baby, elmo, moo, duck..." and he would say it quietly too, almost as if he wasn't aware that he was saying it out loud.  The problem was that the animals would fall off the ledge, and he would have to start all over.  But, as angry as John gets, he is very patient with these little "rituals."

Here is one with more light, but he doesn't have the full line up going...

Some more examples of his obsession?

Today, he walked out on to the front porch, and all of the blocks were out on the ground.  He said, very dramatically, "uh-oh!!"  and he immediately started picking them up.  I bent down to help him, and he said in a panicked voice, "no!" and pushed my hand away.  So, I left him alone with it, and he kept picking them up.

And lately, he doesn't want my hands on the grocery cart when we are at the grocery store.  You can see how this is a problem.  He tries to push my hands away, and often it ends with his having a breath holding spell because he's so upset about the fact that my hands have to be on the grocery cart.  The Publix car cart works to my advantage b/c his back is to me, so he is not aware that my hands are on the cart...

I just pray for him and his character and the man that he will be.  God made him just like this on purpose.  Very much on purpose.  And I pray for wisdom in knowing how to guide and direct him so that his weak areas are strengthened, and I pray that I would not discipline away the areas that are good things, strong things, but different than, perhaps, I want them to look.  If that makes sense at all...

In the mean time, as I was typing this, my little guy woke up from his nap, so I better go and get going with our "afternoon things..."

p.s. while I have been typing this, Ada was off playing her new favorite game "What Not To Wear," a show I sometimes watch during "rest time."  (while John is sleeping, and Ada is playing by her self).  She asked if she could use my makeup, and to buy myself some time, I said yes.  Here is the finished product...

By the way, she always stops what she is doing to watch the make up portion of What Not To Wear.