Days of Celebration in the Context of Our Daily Life

Jem finally decided to go ahead and use the toilet full-time. I am done changing diapers! I'm pretty sure my eyes were moist with happiness when this happened. We ran to the mall and got the Star Wars Lego that we've been dangling in front of him as a bribe. He was happy. We clapped, cheered, and told him how proud we were. He's my big boy.
Violet, never to be outdone, stopped sucking her thumb a couple of days later. I don't think she could stand us praising Jem so much. Although it's not as easy to celebrate the cessation of something as it is to cheer a turd floating in the toilet, we took her out for dinner and will let her pick a prize at the toy store. Violet's been sucking her thumb since she was 8 weeks old, and it was always in her mouth, day and night. She took the initiative to wrap her thumb in a bandage before bed each night to make it 'taste bad'. That's pretty mature for a 5 year old!
At the Biodome she asked me to take a series of pictures of her pretending to hatch out of a giant penguin egg. It really feels like we've turned the last corner away from baby-hood. See ya!