Birthday conversation with Colin

We're mostly settled, but I still haven't found the time to sit down and do a real blog post.  I just had to put this little video on here, though, because it's so darned cute.  Colin usually clams up when the video camera comes out, but he was in a particularly chatty mood on his birthday and I managed to catch it:

Look at that cute little farmer!

Tiny little farmer?

Nah, that's just Colin, driving the "tractor" (as he called it) at my grandma's farm.  There are lots more pics from our big Midwestern adventure to come, but we're moving.  And that makes me tired.  And perhaps a bit cranky.  And my kids get cranky, too (the nerve!).  All of these things dig into my blogging time.   But I'll get crackin' soon, I promise! 

Day 2.5

As I type this very blog post, our dear sweet Maddie-kins has gone two and a half days without sucking her thumb. This is a very big deal, as she's been sucking her thumb since the beginning of time (for her) and was even BORN with calluses on her thumbs from sucking them in utero! All it took were some Barbie Band-Aids and a marble jar, a promise of ice cream if she got five marbles, and a hint of an American Girl accessory if she was successful for an extended period of time.

This was taken IN the hospital!

She got her fifth marble today and she is most definitely looking forward to her ice cream. To say I was surprised is not an understatement. She has promised to stop before, but always reneged when the going got tough and she needed a "hit". I think the marble jar has motivated her. Woohoo! 

There's our big girl!

As a former thumb-sucker myself, I can say that this is a HUGE accomplishment.  I can distinctly remember ducking under my desk at school in 1st or 2nd grade to get a quick hit from the thumb. No such behavior from Maddie, though.  She seems to have gone the cold turkey route.  We're so proud of her!

This is all particularly good news for her Lily doll. You see, when Maddie sucks her thumb she needs something to do with her other hand. It ends up twirling hair. For a long time she twirled her own hair and had to get periodic hair cuts because the one side would be much longer than the other. We managed to focus her twirling attention onto her dolly instead, which was great for Maddie-hair but not-so-great for Lily-hair. Lily would end up looking quite disheveled.

Medusa?  Nah, just a very well-loved Lily.

Now that she seems pretty motivated to give up the thumb, though, Lily is getting a make-over. I combed out her hair (no easy task) and re-rolled it so it would be pretty again.

 Let's hope for Lily's sake that Maddie is serious about this no-thumb business!  Way to go, Maddie!  We are so proud of our big girl. 

 Lovely new coiffure!