Giving Thanks

After taking down all our Christmas decorations, I finally took down the tree of thanks our family made this November. Some of the leaves were funny like when we decided that the thing J was most thankful for was his feet. Of course we also had the Sunday school answers like God and Jesus. Here are some of the unique responses the boys gave when I asked them what they were thankful for:

S (3yo): Aha
The Moon
Green Mountain

R (5yo): Our baby
Crafts
Reading

You can see that S tends to be our dreamer while R is more practical!

Poor little OCD S

So S is my second child who is only two and a half. Over the past few months he has refused to cooperate when we ask him to do just about anything. This has been quite frustrating for us. At first I was convinced that he is fighting to be top dog in the house, but that may not be so true. My good friend, who watched the boys last week, said that she noticed he seemed to get upset and throw fits over the way things are presented to him. For instance, she gave him four grapes and he was happy. Then she noticed that whole grapes could be a choking hazard so she cut them in half. When she gave them back to him, poor little S just burst into tears. Now, I don't think he would be clinically diagnosed as OCD, but he does seem to have these tendencies.

I think I'm going to have to change the way I respond to him. Though I shouldn't cater to his every whim, it makes sense to me that I should have a little grace for him and let him have some things his way. Who cares if he is determined to have his laundry basket in the same place always or if his books aren't arranged the way I would like them. Maybe by cutting him a little slack it will be easier to guide and direct him when it matters.