My Little Helper

So one of the first things I did during this horrific pregnancy was teach AJ to pick things up for me. It took a few months, but I can pretty reliably say "AJ, would you pick that up for Mama, please?" and have him actually do it in a relatively timely fashion. He's also started enjoying putting things in the trash...and only occasionally digs things _out_ of the trash.

Anyway, a few weeks ago he did something that completely shocked the socks off of me. I was folding laundry and had left a pile of clothes for the baby on the coffee table for sorting into types and sizes. It had been there a couple of days when it got knocked off into the floor sometime that I wasn't in the room. That didn't surprise me at all (well, I was a _little_ surprised that it took a couple of days). What surprised me was that as I was walking into the room, without saying anything about it or even looking upset about it, AJ started picking up the clothes and putting them in a pile on the table. And he kept going until all of the clothes were picked up. No one asked him to, he just did it. I think I nearly cried.

Then just now, I was finishing up the water in a water bottle in order to keep the vultures from backwashing into it (the vultures in this case would be AJ). When I finished, he fussed a tiny bit that he hadn't gotten any, then took the bottle, I assumed to play with it. He then proceeded to the kitchen where I heard a cabinet open and close. A minute later, he was back in the living room with me, but without the bottle. It was then I realized that he'd thrown the bottle away for me. Now, I fully expect to have to fish it out of the trash to put it in the recycling...but such independence! Such understanding of the situation! Such a continuation of the Turner and Jones tradition of just doing what needs to be done without having to be told exactly what to do!

I was (am) so proud of him! As he came back into the room, I asked him if he'd thrown the bottle away and he nodded and smiled. I grabbed him and hugged him and told him what a good boy he is, what a good helper he is!

It's amazing to me to see him grow so much. I remember how little he used to be - the lump of not sleepingness he used to be. He's so creative in his play (anything can become either a phone or a hat, and many things that one would never anticipate can become train tracks). And when he's play talking on the phone, he actually has pretend conversations. When he drops practically anything, but especially one of his trains, he picks it up, looks it in the "face," and asks if it's alright. He even "reads" books to himself sometimes.

I'm just amazed by this little person who gestated inside of me for close to 9 months. It's hard to imagine that lightning could strike twice to give us another one as amazing...but at the same time, it's hard to imagine that this new little one could be anything but amazing him or herself.

But here's hoping that s/he is a better sleeper. :)