Try not to kill the children

Night two of taking care of the Littles by myself and they are in their bedroom, singing and laughing like a pair of drunken sailors on shore-leave. What can I do to make them calm down and sleep? Other than take their pillows away for two minutes over and over again, I don't know....
Argggh!

From the bottom of a five year olds heart

At my birthday party today, Naomi hugged me very tightly and whispered in my ear "I love you so much!"
Talk about unbridled emotion!!!

"I don't know why I do it, but I like it!"

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as an ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile and defiant behavior toward authority figures which goes beyond the bounds of normal childhood behavior. People who have it may appear very stubborn. Temper tantrums, stealing, bullying, and vandalism are some of key symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder. ODD children may present as negative, defiant, unable to take "no" for an answer, deliberately annoying others, easily annoyed themselves, or blaming others for all that goes wrong.^[1] The child's behavior often disrupts the child's normal daily activities, including activities within the family and at school. ^[2]

Abba, Abba

The latest cute thing the Littles do these days is when they are trying to get my attention, they say "Abba, Abba... Mr. MacLeod?"
I'm usually ready to listen to whatever they say by then.

Whizzing in the Park

At the park on Shabbos, my two year old Gavriel Zev came up to me saying, "I want to go home."

For him that is code for "I want to go home, in order that I may make use the bathroom facilities". Instead, I thought it would be better to go behind the little shack in the middle of the park. It's private and convenient (for me).

So I carefully removed his shorts and underpants and positioned him carefully so he wouldn't drip on himself in any way. Then just as the pee started, my tie somehow jumped in the way, right in line of where GZ was pointing. Suddenly I had a big, unexplainable wet spot at the bottom of my tie.

What was I going to do now?

For the next hour half I went off to play with GZ with my back turned towards the other parents in the park. By then the Sun had naturally dried the dark, wet spot to a hardly noticable faintness.