Liberty came home from school today and played in his room as usual. He wanted me to get some more toys down from the top shelf of his closet. He knows I hide them under a blanket. Over the summer, I had let him run amuck because he was so bored and he had every toy that he has ever owned on the floor in a great big heap. Monday, I put everything up in the closet except for a select number of toys I knew he loved most.
He indicated by gesture that he wanted his toys down. I very calmly told him that he would have to put away all of his cars, first. He went over to the heap of cars and put them in their bin. After he did that, I said, "Put up your dinosaurs if you aren't going to play with them, and we will get down two more toys to play with." Sure enough, he put away his dinos.
Then he took my hand and led me to the closet. We got down two more toys.
This has never happened. In the past, the usual scene was that he would get excited and have a fit if he heard "no" in my voice. Forget instructions or bargaining. He did not get it at all. It would be a crying, whining fit, especially if I walked away.
This time, however, he followed instructions. He got it.
Later, I was on the phone, and it is not a portable one. He kept trying to pull me off the phone and I gave him the "wait" sign. He was boring holes through me with those big brown eyes, trying get me off the phone and then he left. I finally was able to get off the phone and I heard plastic rustling. I thought he might be climbing his closet and getting things down - or worse - taking all of his clothes off the hanger and throwing them in a heap. I went running to his room and passed the bathroom and saw him out of the corner of my eye.
There he was, digging through the cabinets, trying desperately to get the toilet paper out of its package. He had pooped in his pants, took those off by the toilet, and had apparently exhausted all of the wipes that were left on the counter. I was so proud of him. He gets it!
I got him some more toilet paper and after he finished wiping (well, we actually had to put him in the bathtub at this point) I high-fived him and he gave me a big smile.
Finally, my boy is understanding more and more.
From now on, I will have the toilet paper out of its package ready to go, and I will have plenty of wipes.
And I will honor his silent plea to get off the phone.
2 comments:
Wow. What a sweet and patient and smart, smart boy!
I would have HAD to get off the phone because R would be SCREAMING if there were no toilet paper.
Go Lib!
And look at you Ms. Pretty Lady with the new profile picture!!!
Oh, thank you Michelle - I had to scrounge for that tiny picture; I lost so many on my computer. I had been meaning to replace my dolphin face anyway. :)
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