The little puppeteer

John and I went to Cole's "Back to School Night" tonight. We got to see all the fun things he does all day. After speaking with Mrs. Leah, I'm convinced that Cole is not actually obsessive compulsive. Rather, I believe, he's been playing us like a violin. While apparently, he still loves those doors at school, he couldn't care less about tops, lids, or light-switches. Also, when I asked her about his temper tantrums, and face-planting on the floor, she looked at me like I had just asked her the square root of pi.

So if Cole is an angel at school, clearly he has the ability to cooperate, be flexible, and compromise - right? So you mean to tell me that at home, it's all a ploy for attention? Not my precious little Coleman. What a little puppeteer he is.

For the longest time, Cole has had a fixation with diapers - specifically the ones with Elmo on them. The diapers we use have Sesame Street characters on them, and each diaper has a different character - I think there are maybe 7 or 8 different ones. Anyway, Cole will ONLY wear Elmo diapers. It's such a pain in the butt. He'll go through he entire stack of diapers one by one all the while his current diaper is sagging to his knees. Needless to say, we've accumulated quite a stock-pile of non-Elmo diapers (thankfully, Henry wears the same size as Cole - oh yes, he does). Today out of the blue, Cole decided that Elmo is so yesterday, and it's all about the Cookie Monster.

Henry is getting so big. He should be crawling any day now. He gets up on all fours, and rocks. Sometimes he even lifts his knees off the ground like he's about to do a push-up. For now, he rolls anywhere he wants to go. He can pull himself up to a standing position and hang out like that for a while. My little monkey man has started to self-feed. Gerber puffs are a clear favorite. He'll sit in his high-chair for a little while and munch away. It's so nice because I can actually do dishes, and he's happily occupied.

I was talking to my sister today and she was telling me that she's been cutting down on her pain meds, and so Wyatt hasn't been getting it passed to him through her milk anymore. Consequently she had "the night from hell" last night. I remember those nights with Henry - you feed him, get him to sleep, put him down, turn off the light, and the wailing begins. I don't miss that. I feel for you Penny!

It's amazing the metamorphosis babies go through in that first year. They start out so helpless - tiny little balls of reflex, and within months, they actually have senses of humor. They can interact, play, have likes and dislikes. Amazing. It's sooo cliche, but it goes by so fast. I feel like I blinked, and now my baby is about to crawl.