Kaden did a total faceplant in the sand today at the park. I mean an arms splayed, feet up off the ground, mouthful of sand kind of faceplant. So after he falls, he pops back up immediately but is clearly upset. But not because of what you think. He's upset because his hands are dirty.

When did this kid, who used to not care if his hands were covered in his own projectile poop, become a neat-freak? He's a screaming, crying, holding his hands out until a clean them, then smiling and running on to play, kind of neat-freak.

Just when I thought I was getting to know this little friend of mine, he pulls the rug out and changes on me.

He used to hate getting into his chair at dinner, for instance. Now when I say, "ready to eat?" he runs giggling to his seat so fast it gives me a twinge of guilt that we've been starving him. Maybe he was laughing when I tickled him in the vain hope that eventually I would feed him. Maybe his baby fat is just fat and really he needs some assistance from Christian missionaries before he'll be a well nourished child. How am I to know? Not like I've actually done this before or something.

Of course, if he actually WAS starving, then we wouldn't be such a picky eater. Yup, the kid who used to down everything from Adana Kebab to Saag Paneer has suddenly become a picky eater. He'll still eat many things, but he's entered that control phase where he wants to feed himself. (Metrodad recently wrote a great post on the food topic)

This is cute when you watch him fill his face with mac'n cheese just so it's clear that there is no room for that pureed squash you have in your spoon. But it also means that dinner takes an hour as he eats one-single-pea-at-a-time.

I'm trying to adapt, knowing it always probably be like this. This week it's adapting to him going from wanting a really nice 15 mins of storytime before bed, to him demanding to be put straight into his crib so he can go to bed all on his own. Next week he'll want to dress himself, and soon enough it'll be him wanting me to drop him off a block from school so he meet up with his friends and show them how to light farts.

One thing has stayed constant though, he still loves to dance.

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New Music

Air: **
Lemon Jelly: ***
A new mix of 40s swing (Duke Ellington, etc): ***
Franz Ferdinand: **** (especially when coming from my cell phone)