Good Helper
Alexa LOVES to help! I have discovered this weekend that I can head off a major meltdown with these 4 or more little words, "Can you help Momma . . . ?" And then she springs up from the floor where she'd just thrown herself and is ready, willing, and able.
I was telling a friend of mine that Andrew is very little help. She said, "Oh my son is the same way, but my daughter . . . she LOVES to help! She likes to help with dinner or whatever it is that I am doing." I just assumed that was the nature of her child, but I was pretty Alexa was not going to be much of a help, but the thing is, she is honestly helpful!
Her teachers were telling us last week that after nap time, she walks around picking up the other children's loveys and puts them where they belong and then helps fold up their nap mats. If Doug puts his jacket down somewhere other than where it belongs, she follows him around until he puts it in the right spot. The other morning she was determined to pitch a fit. She didn't know for what, but by God she was going to have one and then in a moment of genius, I said, "Lu-Lu, you want to help Momma make breakfast?" She sprang up, ran to the table, and dragged her chair to the counter and was clamoring up. So she helped me put the refrigerated crescent rolls on the pan and then I let her help me open the oven door and close the oven door. Then she helped make the eggs. I would crack them in a small bowl, and she'd poor them into the big bowl. I beat them and then she added up the broken bits of cheese. What I am begining to appreciate and love about her is, she knows how to help. I don't have to spell it out for her. She has an inherrent understanding of how to cook or clean.
I let her eat lunch in the living room yesterday so that she wouldn't see the goodies I had baked while she was taking a nap- until after she ate her lunch- hopefully. She spilled a little bit of her fruit cup juice and ran into the kitchen to get the handtowel to clean it up. I didn't tell her to do that! She just knew. Andrew would have a) not noticed, b) noticed, but not cared, c) gotten caught, told to clean it up, and stood around whinying and arguing until I stomped around and did it myself.
I hope this helpfulness is not just a phase, but a lifelong characteristic because I like it.
I was telling a friend of mine that Andrew is very little help. She said, "Oh my son is the same way, but my daughter . . . she LOVES to help! She likes to help with dinner or whatever it is that I am doing." I just assumed that was the nature of her child, but I was pretty Alexa was not going to be much of a help, but the thing is, she is honestly helpful!
Her teachers were telling us last week that after nap time, she walks around picking up the other children's loveys and puts them where they belong and then helps fold up their nap mats. If Doug puts his jacket down somewhere other than where it belongs, she follows him around until he puts it in the right spot. The other morning she was determined to pitch a fit. She didn't know for what, but by God she was going to have one and then in a moment of genius, I said, "Lu-Lu, you want to help Momma make breakfast?" She sprang up, ran to the table, and dragged her chair to the counter and was clamoring up. So she helped me put the refrigerated crescent rolls on the pan and then I let her help me open the oven door and close the oven door. Then she helped make the eggs. I would crack them in a small bowl, and she'd poor them into the big bowl. I beat them and then she added up the broken bits of cheese. What I am begining to appreciate and love about her is, she knows how to help. I don't have to spell it out for her. She has an inherrent understanding of how to cook or clean.
I let her eat lunch in the living room yesterday so that she wouldn't see the goodies I had baked while she was taking a nap- until after she ate her lunch- hopefully. She spilled a little bit of her fruit cup juice and ran into the kitchen to get the handtowel to clean it up. I didn't tell her to do that! She just knew. Andrew would have a) not noticed, b) noticed, but not cared, c) gotten caught, told to clean it up, and stood around whinying and arguing until I stomped around and did it myself.
I hope this helpfulness is not just a phase, but a lifelong characteristic because I like it.
I love this story. It is so true of my girls too.
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