little, polite O

One of O's favorite things to say is: "No sé!" (I don't know!) and he holds his hands upright shrugging his shoulders speaking with his body language as well.

He has also learned when to say please, thank you, and I'm sorry. It's interesting to me how quickly kids can learn the situations when these phrases are appropriate. It also challenges the parents a little. It's easy to say no when he screams "I WANT IT!!!" After doing that 500 times, then stopping and calmly asking in his sweet voice, "Mami, may I please have it?" It's a lot harder to say, "Thank you for asking nicely, but the answer is still, no." I get tempted to reward sweet words.

Just the other day when we were about to cross the street, he said, "Cars?, cars?, no, no." He didn't look up, much less both ways, but he did at least pause and recognize we need to look for cars! I was shocked and pleased. He tends to be much more impulsive than his sibs.

He has also learned the answers to the questions to getting out of timeout. His most recent visit, as soon as I put him there, he said, "Sorry, Mami, I won't do it again." Thanks, buddy, you still get 2 minutes.

His "animales" are his favorite toy. He can play with them for hours. And he mostly lines them up, over and over again. How sweet and civilized.




He fakes us out with his politeness, though, because shortly after he goes back to the offending behavior or turns around and uses the shark to attack all his friends, who end up all over the floor...




So, we have a rowdy third child after all, no matter how much he tries from time to time to make us believe otherwise.