Ferrara's in Florida

When he doesn’t want to walk he says, “I’m heavy for the ground. You can hold me.” When he wants to get out of the car seat, he says, “Ants are biting me.  I need to get out of my seat RIGHT NOW!” He is potty trained and announces his urges wherever we are. Such as in a restaurant, “I need go poop!” Or in the morning upon waking, “I have a dry diaper. I need gum.” (his reward) When he sees a boat, helicopter, plane or “race car” (aka sporty car), he grabs our faces with two hands and says, “You need look at dat boat” More to come...

The day we returned home from our first beach trip this summer, Joel folded and put away his army fatigues-- all of them .  What was his daily uniform, six and sometimes seven days a week, was now in the bottom of his drawers or closet. Today at the library, he checked out 20 books on professional baseball.  Last week he checked out a pile of books on professional football and a few on LeBron James. Last night he was performing magic tricks and asked to go to the library for Houdini books. As heard in between bookshelves in the juvenile biography section of our library: Me: Woah, Joel, I see a book on Harry Houdini and some military books. Joel: Mom!  I don't do the military any more.  I am serious about sports. Abrupt? Yes.  But this 7-year-old knows what he likes.