There are certain things that I ask JT to do, and I say that it’s his “big guy job.” That way when he can’t do something, I simply explain that it’s a “mom job.” He’s getting it, because yesterday Haley was fussing and he went running across the family room saying, “Big guy job! I get her binky!” And at the chiropractor’s the other day, she was starting to get cranky in her car seat at the front desk, which is where she spends the ten minute appointment with Emily the receptionist as her babysitter. I sent him out from my waiting room to check on her. When I peeked out to see how things were going, he was putting her binky in her mouth and rocking her car seat at the same time. 🙂
Anyway, he is recently also very interested in kitchen jobs. He asks to help with almost every meal. It is sometimes difficult to come up with something that he can do, but I try to include him. He does a great job dishing up fruit or counting out vegetables or chips or rolls. He is working on his spreading skills and did a pretty nice job spreading peanut butter on the bread for his sandwich today. (“To the edges,” he can be heard muttering to himself.)
Last Saturday he helped me make pancakes for breakfast. He did a great job stirring the batter and then watching for bubbles on the pancakes to know when I should flip them. I offered to let him help pour the batter or flip the pancakes but he declined… he is such a cautious guy and he pointed out that the stove top was hot. Duh, Mom. 🙂
JT also helped wrap the Christmas presents (I forgot to post these when I wrapped two weeks ago). He started reading the gift tags and noticed his name on one: “Hey, that spells JT!” So then he checked all of the gift tags for his name.
I also forgot about this Thanksgiving day picture from Safeway that I took on my phone. I have never, ever let him ride in one of those ridiculous car carts. But it was Thanksgiving, and I said it could be his present. He was sooooo excited. We crashed into several displays and I made the most of it, shouting things like “Look out please, student driver in the aisle!” and people were staring. But most people smiled and JT thought I was very funny, which is what counts.
And finally, he recently started building things with this Lego blocks instead of just stacking them together or pretending they are cars. His Legos were a gift from his Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Matt for his birthday. Here he told me he was building a house.
The Keene Family 