I'm so proud of myself for actually reading Leviticus.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my Core Group (me and two awesome ladies a lot cooler than me) is currenty slogging through Leviticus.

Leviticus is not an easy read. There are rules for building the temple. And rules for sacrifice. And a few thousand (it seems) rules about what's clean and unclean, whether it's clean or unclean to eat, whether it's a clean or unclean affliction, or clean or unclean time to have sex (I don't know how they enforced that one, or rather, I don't want to think about it).

And this is why people sometimes feel like the Old Testament is a buzzkill, because of "Thou shalt not" books like Leviticus. But reading it now, as an adult, I'm starting to see how a lot of those laws made sense.

Read more »

My family talks with our hands.

If, like me, you sat through "Meet the Fockers", you may remember that the only redeeming character was the adorable signing baby.

And if you watched the video linked above, you saw an even cuter little baby signing with her mom. And you may be thinking that is impossible.

But it's not! I tried baby sign with my son when he was very young, starting around 4 months, and he never really got into it. He understood a few signs, but he never reciprocated and, since I was the only one working on it with him, there wasn't a lot of consistency, and I gave it up.

But they recently introduced baby sign at his daycare, and HE LOVES IT. Being a boy, he doesn't have the same level of vocabulary his female-majority classmates enjoy (again, he understands a lot, but doesn't repeat a lot back). Unless he knows the sign for a word. If he can sign it, he can say it.

This may seem counter-intuitive. A lot of people worry that signing with their baby will cause their child to speak later, since they'll just be using the signs. But signing actually helps a child understand the principles of communication, and that words and meanings are associated with objects. Also, the signing adult, consciously or not, is typically communicating better with the child, facing them so that the child can see the sign, but the child is also watching their mouth and learning how to form the words.

If you have, or are expecting a little one, pick up a book on baby sign. It's probably only going to run you about $20, and you could be doing both yourself and your child a huge favor.

Taking a fingernail to the nostril: My son keeps poking me in the face

You know how sometimes your kid does something that you don't want them to do, but they're not technically doing anything wrong, so you kind of just let it slide? Well, apparently they're learning to identify parts of the face at my son's preschool. Hey, fine by me; I'm just happy they're taking the initiative to actually teach the kids as opposed to just babysitting them for 9 hours.

The problem is, my son has brought this new knowledge home, and with too much enthusiasm. So we're on the floor, playing and laughing, and he suddenly yells "Nose!" while proceeding to jam his index finger two knuckles deep in my left nostril.

Or, let's put it this way...Does anyone remember the wrestler Mick Foley? And how his finishing move involved hooking his fingers into the bottom of his opponent's mouth? Yeah, my son does that. He says "Mouf" and I find myself trying to simultaneously tap out and dig my gum tissue out from under his nails.

I suppose it could be worse. He doesn't seem to have learned "eye" yet.