Monday, July 20, 2009

Do Unto Others


So Audrey has discovered the Golden Rule. Not that she grasps its philosophical implications, mind you, but she has discovered that some of the things we do to her, she can now do to us. It all started a couple of weeks ago (or probably earlier) when she found that if she didn't want to eat a cheerio or goldfish cracker, she could hold it up and whoever was watching her at the moment (Paul or I) would eat the cheerio or cracker out of her hand. She always gets a little smile on her face when she feeds us, a sort of self-satisfied "see, that's what it's like when you feed me!"

These behaviors have now expanded beyond feeding us to a sort of "bathroom valet" role. In order to keep her interested in using the potty, we've started reading to her and allowing her to look at books as she sits there. She does sit there longer, and the books do hold her attention. But now she has a potty-book link in her mind. So as she follows us into the bathroom when we use it, she inevitably brings over one of her books for us to read on the "big potty." And today I asked her if she would close the door so I could have some privacy (well, quasi-privacy, with the one-year-old still in the bathroom), so she closed the door. She's very solicitous - "Are you comfortable, mommy? Can I get you anything else?" I half-expect her to one day hold out her tiny hand and ask for a tip as I walk out of the bathroom. But for right now she just does it out of the goodness of her heart, and a fondness for the Golden Rule.

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