Helping Hands

Little Philip has really come into his own in the last month. Maybe it was the tubes or maybe it is just a developmental moment. At any rate, he has some really good new behaviors and some really bad new behaviors. Temper tantrums have begun. When he does not want to come to Mommy or Daddy he will pull his arms in tight to his side, shriek and stomp his feet. We, of course, take these moments to practice gentle discipline and he quickly stops and gives a kiss to apologize. This is a small challenge compared to the many new good behaviors he is exhibiting. For instance, he loves to help take his clothes off (he has always loved his birthday suit) before a bath or getting into his pajamas. His favorite part is taking whatever piece of clothing he has just removed and running over to the dirty clothes hamper and putting it in. Socks are his favorite. He also loves to help empty the dishwasher, but Mommy only lets him hand her the melamine and plastic items after one of the rimmed soup bowls went crashing to the tile floor. It happened before Mommy could even see her helping boy's efforts. Philip immediately put his finger in his mouth, looked up with doe eyes and said "uh-oh."