September 10

Caleb had a rough morning today. And a rough afternoon. Which means I can only assume that it was also a rough day at school, too. This is worth noting because the past 3 or 4 days have been really good. 

Which is worth noting because before that, his behavior has been not so good. In fact, Caleb's behavior had been so not good that Chris and I were growing concerned. Caleb has always been a quirky kid, but lately he's kind of gone off the deep end. Obsessing over Star Wars and Legos to an unusual degree, being sulky and whiny about going to school, being mean to his siblings, and showing a general lack of resiliency. All of that stuff is not normal for him, so Chris and I examined what we know.  After talking for a while, we decided that maybe it was his gut flora. Weird, I know, but there's lots of research out there about the gut/brain connection. So we decided to give Caleb an adult probiotic each day.

I tell you, it  was like magic. As soon as we started the probiotic, he was back to his loving, playful, cheerful self. Except for today.  

Since Caleb chooses to get up at 6:30 am, he usually has lots of free time in the mornings. Our rule is that if he has gotten dressed, brushed his teeth, and eaten breakfast, then he may watch TV. Today, he was ready for TV at 7:45, which meant that he got to watch 15 minutes of TV before it was time to get ready for the bus. When I asked him to turn the TV off, he lost control and went into a tailspin that lasted until he got on the bus. I hated sending him off to school like that; I even stopped him as we walked to the bus, wrapped my arms around him, and prayed for him, but it wasn't enough. Poor kid. Here's hoping tomorrow is better.

Eli had a good day, though! I gave him a couple of slices of ripe peach at lunch time, and the boy was in heaven!

Daisy also had a good day. At preschool, they read a book called Little Blue and Little Yellow, and her teacher had little balls of blue and yellow play-doh for the kids to take home. Daisy was thrilled. Also, the polka dots on her dress match the balls of play-doh.

Also, she had a striped skirt (with built-in shorts!) under her polka-dotted dress.

And owl socks, with white sandals.

And she requested that I put her hair up in a ball on her head, so I gave her a tiny little bun and she was so pleased with the way she looked. It must be awesome to be four.