James is a funny little guy. He has a clean fetish of sorts, and I wonder sometimes if my OCD tendencies are contagious or if he just is that kind of kid. Since he was born, he's had a mind of his own.
{Tangent: This has actually been the hardest thing to adjust to as a parent. I didn't actually WANT an accessory to carry around and dictate, but I was and still am totally unprepared for the PERSON who lives in our house. I mean, he has this personality that is absolutely his! He has demands! He has likes and dislikes! And they're often not at all what I tried to brainwash into him. :) It's disconcerting, but wonderful. He's just a real person even as a baby. Who knew children were people too??}
Anyway, this clean fetish is just that: he hates being dirty. Mostly he hates it when his hands are dirty. He will choose to use his hands in lieu of silverware {to eat spaghetti, for example}, but then several times mid-meal, he will ask for a towel {and scream and cry for one if I try to tell him we can wait to clean up until the end}. I'm not actually worried about him. Some kids are just that way. And it's not like he doesn't love playing in the sandbox and puddles and rocks...
Similarly, James loves to organize things. He loves to stack things, and he loves to line things up. I've only recently noticed this- this summer, probably. I think it's really cute. Here are some examples... ALL TAKEN YESTERDAY when I just kept noticing and had the camera handy. Is this an age thing, as they're learning that things have order and a place in the world? Or is my kid just ... well... awesome? :) Check it out.
At lunch. Derek and I had toast with mayo, amazing, garden tomatoes on top, S&P and melted cheese. James had all ingredients, just not together. And, of course, he wanted "baby 'matoes" in lieu of the boring ones. See? All lined up!
Coloring triangles. :) We watched a couple of Sesame Street clips about triangles. Then we drew triangles and colored them. He put his crayons all in a row. Then when I told him I wanted to take a picture, he was embarrassed and therefore had to... eat a lemon?! Strange kid.
Pointing. {Pretty self-explanatory}
With his awesome new airplanes {Thank you, Grandma!} and his dump truck and his tractor. All lined up!
I love the things he does. I'm so glad he came to us with his own personality. Though I detest parents that crave the "best friend" relationship with their kids, I love that our little family is a group of buddies... that we really would have picked one another when given the chance. Thanks for letting me ramble and brag about my boy. I really can't help myself.
PS. I cannot even tell you how much I actually prefer this sort of kiddo. Grimy, snot-nosed kids make me literally throw up in my mouth just to look at them. I'm a bit of a germaphobe and therefore have an aversion to sick people. Stinky schoolchildren gross me out. You get my drift. So really, it's good that James is so clean and relatively tidy. I might not love him otherwise. {wink}
