C's fingernails are a little long. Mental note: trim them during bath time tonight.
But wait. I haven't trimmed his nails in a long time. I haven't needed to: he's been chewing them himself. In fact, he was even chewing his toenails (flexible little bugger).
Anxiety.
The past couple of years brought a lot of it, and along with it came things like head-banging, shirt-chewing, licking (everything in sight!), and nail biting.
Most of the more obvious signs have abated since he's settled into his new school with its smaller, quieter classes. And now the nail biting is apparently gone.
So tonight I'll trim those little nails, and I'll picture the anxiety falling away with them. And I'll remind myself that progress isn't usually measured in big leaps and bounds, but in victories as small as overgrown fingernails.