Hinges

This little man:

is all about order, structure, and systems. Since he was knee-high to a grasshopper he has been obsessed with cars. But cars have always needed roads or tracks. If he couldn't find one, he'd make one--out of Legos, ties, whatever was handy. Seriously, since he was a babe of 12 months. This is how he rolls with everything in life. He likes to make sure he's in control of his world. He has to either be the engineer of the track or the driver of the car, if you will. If you take that control away from him, he's as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. He understands fairly abstract concepts and picks them up from the strangest places. I'm worried that I won't be able to keep up with him, or know how to properly channel his obsessive behaviors. But I ask a lot for help and strive to patient with myself with him. Things will be done his way. He only likes crackers, pizza, chicken nuggets granola bars, cereal and peanut butter. If he can't have any of those things, he will--with very little fanfare or drama--starve himself. Seriously, he's gone a full 36 hours with no food before. Because it wasn't what he wanted and he'll gag on anything else. He loves his daddy and is sure that he's helping whenever there's a project to be done and he drags out his little plastic tools. He is all boy and there isn't often a lot of gentleness about him, but he loves his sisters and becomes a little mush pot when playing with "my baby sister", as he calls her. When he's happy, he's hilarious, with an off-the-wall sense of humor (and a bit off-the-wall everything else). He doesn't have a shy bone in his body, but either he's all about the socialness or he doesn't care that people are around at all--he can very quickly retreat into his own world. Dylan is different. He keeps me on my toes, and he makes me laugh. Seriously: laugh and laugh and laugh. . . .