Things other than sleep

But a small sleep note first.
We are back on track for bedtime. He stays in his bed when we leave with only a couple of minutes of crying-protesting. We go in after he's asleep to put up the rail, but he hasn't fallen out again so far.
So we're good on bedtime again, until the next thing! Yay!

His favorite story these days is "Three Little Pigs," he says "Sing the Big Bad Wolf."

Just as Feiste and our friends the Brantinghams told us, John is starting to potty train himself. He often (2-3 times a day) goes on the toilet. We're not really doing anything formal, no stickers or M&Ms, just praising him when he does it. Twice he woke himself up in the morning in time to have a dry diaper overnight. He has done it at school, and he usually does it before his bath.

His imaginative play often involves putting Tony and I through some aspect of the daily routine with the parent-child roles reversed. Tony was very happy that John put him down for a nap the other day!

We have Zoo Tots tomorrow morning at the Greenville Zoo. It's a 45-minute program that involves about 20 minutes of "free-play" at various stations in the education room and a 20-minute program led by a Zoo intern. Last week, the kids (about 10 in the class) got to see a Lorikeet (small parrot-type bird) close up. I was pretty disappointed in the thinness of the program and the leadership skills of the intern, but we got what we paid for, which was to see an animal (besides a dog or cat!) close up.

Our family dog walks our quiet now because John rides in the stroller and listens to the Diane Ferlatte CD. His favorites are "Down by the River," in which a crocodile learns that he can't eat Hen, because she is his sister; and "Turtle Song," in which a baby turtle uses reverse psychology on a coyote, a la Brer Rabbit.

He is getting better at taking turns. Yesterday he and his friend James jumped on James's trampoline and they were both taking turns on their own, without me or Kerri having to prompt them. It was a beautiful thing! The other night, John, Tony, and I played a Memory-style game with his construction vehicle memory cards. Instead of turning the cards upside down, we left about 9 pairs face up, but mixed up, and we took turns picking matching pairs. It was pretty fun.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon. I know it's been a long time. I have misplaced the camera...