I may have a PhD, but...

I didn't know a toddler's mouth capacity was equal to a full slice of chocolate cake.

I never realized that the cutest smiles have only two teeth in them.

I sometimes lack the common sense to refrain from leaving a 2 year old alone with the fingerpaints for 30 seconds.

And I never knew that sunglasses would be a preferred bath toy.

8 months old!

We took the kids for a walk this evening. 

I tried to get a cute picture of the two of them, but while Helen smiles like a model whenever you pull out the camera, George doesn't really pose.

Shortly after photo #1 Helen decided she really, really, really wanted George's shoes.

The end.

They call this the development of the superego

Scene. I hear a strange noise- as though he has gotten into something he shouldn't- and I come around the corner.

George: "What are you doing?"

Scene. George is running through the living room.

George: "Slow down!"

Scene. George tosses all the toys in Helen's basket across the room.

George: "Big mess, clean it up!"

Scene. George takes huge bites of his dinner and coughs and splutters a bit.

George: "Careful, chew."

Scene. George is kicking his daddy.

George: "No kicking daddy!"

Is this really how I sound to him? Like one of those Peanuts moms going wah-wah-wah??

Also, these situations reminded me of this passage:

Romans 7:15-24

¹⁵For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Sometimes I'm really glad I'm a psychologist

It's been a rocky 8 weeks or so since we started trying to feed Helen solids. We tried all kinds of purees and baby cereal for weeks and weeks, to no avail. Her responses ranged from horrified revulsion, to indifference, to a kind of playful pfffffft! Little to nothing was swallowed, at least not if she could help it. After some time she finally decided that she was okay with prunes:

But as any seasoned mommy knows, there is an excellent reason that you can't serve prunes day in and day out. I had to find a way to get her to eat something else! She was started to develop a conditioned response to the mere sight of the spoon and would sometimes gag just looking at it. So I decided to try her on finger foods even though I am a fraidy cat when it comes to choking and she is kind of little for them. Sure enough, she loved puffs and rice krispies with very little encouragement. But when I tried giving her little pieces of fruit I didn't get the winning response I had anticipated- she was still associating the smell and flavor with the 'yuck' reaction. Thank goodness I'm a behaviorist because I knew a way around this... I stuck tiny pieces of fruit to her puffs! She ate them up before she even realized what was happening, then I gradually stopped adding puffs, and she found out that she loves eating bits of soft fruit. Today she scarfed two whole apricots in the manner of a a recently escaped POW. Then she licked the tray (seriously!).

So, um, anyone in the Lansing area want several batches of homemade baby food?