Show & Tell (but no knitting)

Like all parents, I'm pretty well convinced that my children are the smartest, most beautiful, most loving and brilliant little people who are absolutely destined for some inevitable greatness. And this notion is only further supported by the fact that it is completely true. And the best thing about being a parent is that you can feel this way about your own little (and big) ones, and it would STILL be true.

I thought I should do some show and tell about my girls, who's faces appear here every now and then (all the time) and some of things that they do, and don't do anymore.

My youngest, Mizan used to suck her index and middle finger...like ALL the time. In the ever present irony of parenting, we thought we were doing ourselves a favor by not introducing her to a pacifier as an infant. Naturally, she used her innate resourcefulness and found something else to pacify her - her own fingers. Those of you with thumb-suckers out there or who were one in your youth know the perils of this habit as well as the severe withdrawal that results when trying to break it. When Hubby and I discussed trying to make Meezee forgo the fingers, we feared a repeat of the 2 weeks of bawling from a desperate wild-eyed toddler that we went through when Adachi had to throw her binky in the trash.

Not so for our Meezee. After a visit to the pediatrician and confirmation that she could in fact damage her super gorgeous smile, daddy had a "talk" with her about sucking her fingers (I'm not ashamed to say it involved threats of basting the fingers in vinegar)...she quit. Cold Turkey. No weeping, no pleading or bargaining. She just stopped. So typical of this child of strength (whose name is Nigerian for "balance" - I'll say.)

So she went from using her fingers to do this















To using them for things like this















Now Adachi has taken to using her fingers for something quite astounding as well. We're already thrilled that at 4 she is reading books by herself (including words like "shoulder" and "subtraction"), but she's also taken to writing stories and love notes. Here are a couple samples, which are spelled out phonetically as one would expect:


Translation: "We missed you Daddy. Adachi Mizan Mommy Hugs & Kisses"




Translation: "Mommy we love you . Hugs & Kisses Adachi Mizan (From) "

And when they put their hands and heads together - they come up with things like this:

*Sigh*. I know. I feel the same way.

If you have some show and tell - be sure to comment about it and point me to some pictures.