Good behavior

So the last month has been some sort of stars-aligning time for my children. Good times abound. I'm hoping it doesn't end anytime soon!

First, two weeks ago Margaret and I were reading the Cat in the Hat and she looked at the cover of the book that she has seen 100 times, and suddenly said, "hey, that spells Hat!" So for the first time, she actually *read* it rather than just knowing what it said.

The next day, Henry asked to use the potty (by grabbing his diaper and saying "poop"). He sat on the big and little potties alternately until he finally peed on the big one. He was very pleased with himself. He did it two more times over the next week, but not since then. I'm trying to be patient, but it was pretty exciting!

This weekend we had a LOT going on. Margaret's preschool program was on Friday night, so she dressed as an angel and sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" and "Angels we have Heard on High." She actually *sang* too. Then we had potluck dinner and saw a living nativity at the school. Both kids were very well behaved even though they were out way past bedtime. Saturday we went Christmas caroling with our neighborhood, then to a dinner party at a friend's house. Again, both kids were amazingly well-behaved.

I was hoping that two days of late bedtime would get them to sleep in a little, but since we all know that never happens, Margaret woke up at 2:30 am crying that her leg hurt, and Henry woke up for the day at 4:30 am. Luckily, I was able to contain him in our bed until 6:30, but I was tired on Sunday!

Yesterday Margaret's Sunday school class sang in a play (she was a sheep with the other members of her class) and she did great. Afterwards we took them (with the grandparents) to see a youth ballet version of The Nutcracker. Both of them sat transfixed by the performance until about 3/4 of the way through, and after a short walkabout, they were good to go for the end. Afterwards we went out to dinner at a buffet-style place and they again did incredibly well. This on much less sleep than usual.

And finally, today I stopped at Payless Shoes to see if I could shoes for Margaret and me, and when not trying on shoes, they both played quietly with the bead path in the store. The store clerk actually commented on how well-behaved they were. I am seriously waiting for the shrieking to begin, but this stretch has been really fabulous.