The Dawning of Comprehension

A couple of things happened this past week that made me see just how much more S1 is understanding. The first was with S3. S3 had been playing with a group of toys on the kitchen floor and walked away. S1 came in, inspected the lot, and picked up a toy that he wanted. Instantly S3 began to scream. As I stood there trying to help S3 understand that he left the toys and that now S1 could have a turn, S1 looked at S3, looked at the toy in his hand, and then looked back to S3. S1 then reached out his hand and gave S3 the toy! I'm not sure that he's ever made that connection before. I am sure that it was the first time he has willingly given back a toy!

Second, S1 took me out back and walked to a blank stretch of fence. He looked at it, not finding what he was looking for, and continued to drag me along to where the gate was. He then reached up and grabbed the pull cord, which until now he was too short to reach, and dropped my hand and ran out the back gate! Arghhh! Now he can't just play in the backyard by himself. Well, actually he can because I went to the other side of the gate and pulled the cord out so now we can't open the gate from inside the yard, just the outside. I'll have to solve that dilemma once he's back in school.

See what happens when kids are home from school for too much time!

Oven Door? What for?

Well, to the vast majority of us, it would seem that the purpose of the oven door is to keep the heat in while we bake and hide whatever is burned on the bottom of our oven. However, to S1 it is a convenient fold down chair. This summer it has also become a stepping stool to reach cupboards and a fun springboard to bounce on when bored, at least until mom comes in to break up the fun. One night though, mom was out getting a break. Dad called to tell me that there was a surprise for me when I returned home. Knowing my family as I do I asked if it was a good or bad surprise. He countered with, "Well, maybe you can fix it." This did not bode well.

S1 had apparently been bouncing on the oven door when it "broke" and hit the ground. The other end was still attached to the hinges, however, it would not fold back up into the oven. Luckily all I had to do was unscrew the hinges and tweek them a little to the side for them to pop back into place. Then I screwed them back into place and slid the door back on. Now we actually keep the door off of the oven, laying against the side of the cupboards, to keep S1 from repeating this and risking injury - not to mention possibly making the door irrepairable! Great, now I have to keep my oven clean!!!!