Helper Boy

Is there anything more motivating than the eagerness of a little 3 or 4 year old working alongside you?

Here's a picture from last fall when we were painting doors before hanging them.

And a few more recent pictures when David wanted to push the snow around on the driveway a little bit.

Davidisms--Feb 24

• David showed an astounding amount of persistence on Monday. Daddy was home for President's Day, and early in the morning David decided he wanted to go to McD's to celebrate. We told him initially that McD's was not in our plans for the day. And once we told him no, we felt it necessary to stick to our answer. (We had lots of other fun plans for the day, some of which played out!) But David sure tried to persuade us otherwise. He asked. He asked again. He rephrased the question. He used the power of positive thinking by saying things like, "Daddy, when we go to McD's . . ." and "Ohhh! I love the slides at McD's!" A very conservative number of how many times he asked us to go to McD's throughout the day would be 100. It would only be a little off the mark if I said it may have even been double that. All of the parenting books say that giving a child a firm but kind answer, being consistent in your answer, and distracting them will help the child move on. They haven't met our David. It was a comical display of a challenge we often run in to in parenting, and I'm glad we were both around to witness it from start to finish. As the 5 o' clock hour approached, and David was once again trying to convince us, we started laughing together. Sam and I agreed that if we both hadn't seen it firsthand, it would be an unbelievable tale of how persistent this little guy can be. I'm glad for the comical perspective it offered us on a place that can easily cause frustration. One of my key phrases I say as a Mom is, "When I say no, I mean no." And now I see why I have to say that so often. Now, there are plenty of times that David has the say or gets to choose our activity, or we use his idea. This just happened to not be one of them--which is good for him, too. And we got a very vivid illustration of the strong spirit inside our little boy, especially once he puts his mind to something.
• I folded David's laundry, then asked him to come put it away. He wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of this small chore, so he delayed. Finally, he came in to the room and this was our conversation. David: "Mommy, you're the goodest mommy. And the rightest mommy. I'm so glad you're part of our family." Me: Oh, thanks, David! David: You're welcome. Now will you please put away my pile of laundry?
• In very exciting news, David is reading!! Just a few short words here and there, but he's attempting to sound out new words wherever we go. We're using the BOB books that came so highly recommended, as well as a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. David likes to push through the lessons as quickly as we can to keep moving forward, but I've put a limit at 2 lessons per day. I can't wait until he really takes off and can read well enough to read stories--not just words. 
• Sam's mom made Samand I some very bright pillow cases with pink flowers all over them. The first time we put them on the pillows, David was excited and complimented me on having such a pretty pillow. I showed him that  Daddy had the same pillow case. And David say, "But boys don't like pink flowers on their pillows!?!" We laughed, and asked him what boys like to have. "Boys need pictures of candy!!"

Church Clothes

Recently David has taken to playing a game he calls "Recycle." It consists of dumping the contents out of every bin and drawer in his bedroom, and mixing it all into one gigantic pile in the middle. Toys, clothes, keepsakes, books and the giveaway pile in one giant heap, waiting to be resorted. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of this game.

As can be expected, it's hard to keep track of clothes when they get dumped out and rearranged multiple times in the week. And as can be expected, a few things have started to disappear. Unfortunately this morning we learned that the sets of church clothes we keep in one of the drawers went missing. All of them. So here was David's best substitution:

 The hat is from when he was a baby--which tells me that even the drawer with the baby keepsakes has been ransacked. The pants have been put away to be handed to a smaller boy. The shirt belongs in the rotation with his current clothes, as well as those slipper socks. What would Daddy do if his little boy walked in to church looking like this!?! Probably give us a questioning look and stifle a laugh at the same time.

After a joint effort, we were able to pin down something a little more appropriate:

Ahh, that's much better.

 

Davidisms--Feb 3

• We were parked next to the stall where you're supposed to return carts, so since he wouldn't have to cross any other vehicles, I asked David if he wanted to return the cart for me. Boy did he ever! He came back to the car, and this was our conversation. D: I'm so big, Mom. I returned the cart all by myself! Me: Oh, are you getting to be such a big boy!? D: Yes, when I  return the cart I feel like I'm 20.
• We were at David's 4-year old checkup, and he kept interrupting while I spoke with the Doctor. I finally paused long enough to remind David that he had to wait his turn to talk to the doctor. So he waited. Very patiently he waited. When finally it was his turn, he had to say something. So this is what he came up with--in a very excited, cheery conversational voice: "Dr. Penman, I'm really looking forward to my shots today!"
• In one morning before 9:30 am, David emptied a Costco sized bottle of shampoo down the drain, unwove the lid of my 3-foot tall wicker basket (But Mom! I didn't break any of the pieces!--He was right, they were all in tact, just no longer woven together.), found out that small sticks (from said unwoven basket) work just fine if you want to pry baseboard off the wall, and dumped all of my spices in one bowl to mix them together. Dr. Penman recommended that I get him reading sight words as soon as possible to challenge this little exploring mind of his.
• In other news, our house is officially on the market. Where are we moving? Somewhere within our ward boundaries, that's for sure. The good news for selling a house right now is that the inventory on the market is low. The bad thing about looking for another house is that the inventory on the market is low. Here's a link to a virtual tour. We've had 3 showings in just the first week, and a little nibble of interest from at least one of those showings. Here's to learning  how to keep an immaculate, show-ready house!! David has been a champ. When we are trying to hurry and clean up for a showing, I say, OK, David! We're going to play "Mom, what's next?" So he'll come to me and say, "Mom, what's next?" I give him a little chore to do, then he comes back and says it again. And again. And again. What a little champ.

Skating Party

For his birthday activity, David chose ice skating. For family night on Monday, we headed down to the local ice rink to give David his first taste of ice skating. We had to wait for hockey practice to finish on the ice, so it was a late session that didn't start until 8 pm. The mall closes at 9 pm, so we tried to make the most of that hour, but a lot of the time was eaten up by choosing a broken locker, and changing out skates for a better fit. Between the three of us, we probably only had a combined total of 30 minutes on the ice.

There was a little of this--falling down and trying to get up again.

 And a little of this, clinging to the wall to try to stay up.

 At the end, David chatted it up with the Zamboni driver off the ice. Of course he wanted to hear all the whys and what fors about the Zamboni. It turned out to be the highlight of his night.

David kept asking to be picked up by one of his parents. He seemed sure that if he was picked up, he could zoom quickly and not fall down. We knew better--so we told David that he had to figure out how to keep his feet underneath him on the ice and we helped him as much as we could be holding his hand. By the end of the night, I really noticed his improvement. Which tells me that another session would be even more successful. I asked David if he wanted to do it again sometime. "No, I think it's a little too slippery for me. I'll wait until I'm bigger then I can go fast like the big kids."

We were buddies on the ice. I had just enough balance to hold his hands while we skated together. As long as he focused on keeping his feet underneath him, we both stayed up. I really enjoy ice skating, and I can keep my balance and get a little wind in my hair while I do it. But skating with the unpredictability of a little boy in front of me is a whole different ball game. His skates were everywhere I needed to put my feet, and his hands pulled my balance off. Thankfully, I didn't bite the ice--but I was nervous about it!

 

Happy Birthday, David!