THE "SYSTEM"

After breakfast on a typical morning, I like to take a few minutes and check my email. Beforehand, I set the boys up with some toys and a cartoon to watch while I'm in the other room. Well, they have developed a "snack system" during this time. Trever will take his small chair and use it to climb over the safety gate blocking our kitchen entrance. Then he opens the fridge, and Nathan stands by the gate and points at what he wants to eat. So Trever will grab two snacks, climb back over the gate and they'll enjoy their snacks. They continue their little system for as long as I'm away, getting one snack after another. I really don't mind because I like to see them 'working together in harmony,' but I do try to hurry because some times Trever gets a little too carried away....

The other day, Trever came up to me while I was checking my email and said, "Mom, I shared with Nathan!" "What did you share with Nathan?" I asked. And he held up half of an avocado saying, "I said, 'one for you and one for me!'" I immediately panicked at the thought of Trever cutting the avocado and I said, "How did you cut this?" And he calmly replied, "Don't worry, Mom, I didn't use a sharp knife, I used a soft knife." So I walked past the living room where Nathan was happily spooning his half of the avocado into his mouth and went into the kitchen to find a butter knife put back in the silverware drawer with avocado paste all over it. I couldn't believe he had cut it in half so well with that dull knife. And he'd even seasoned it with salt and pepper! I was actually pretty impressed, but we did have a very long talk about the importance of asking Mommy for help. ha ha ha