My Son Plays with Dolls -- and that's OK!

In the middle of sleep strikes, attitude problems, and messy dinners, my kids are able to break out with some pretty cute stuff. Oliver almost had me in tears last night. When I was getting the kids ready for bed, I put Oliver on his new couch (a little Sesame Street foldout couch that we bought him for his birthday). I left him there so I could go help Mac brush her teeth, and put one of her dolls next to him so that he could play. When I came back in, he was holding the doll across his lap and stroking her head. He was so tender and so cute. It was quite possibly the cutest thing that I have ever seen. I had no idea he could do that -- to me, it shows that he is capable of applying learned behavior to new situations. In the middle of worrying about his development, you have no idea how comforting that is. And even more importantly, it shows that he has compassion. Yes, I realize that I am probably the first mom every to be proud of her son for playing with dolls.

Not to be outdone, Mac later "read" a book to Oliver that I used to read to her. She is getting so good at memorizing books and reading them back. The book that she read to him was Moo, Ba, La,La,La by Sandra Boynton. It was her favorite for a long time when she was just a little bit older than he is now. And now she is "reading" it to him. Last night, the little peanuts made me proud.