Braggin' on My Sweet Boy

Whenever all three (yea four) of us sit down to dinner together, Zach and I take Isaac's hands and pray the "God is great" prayer. If we peek at him during the prayer, he's usually smiling at us. Yesterday he did something that totally melted my heart.

Isaac was in his high chair already eating and we sat down with him. He actually stopped eating (a rare occurrence!) and held out both hands for us to pray together!

One of my friends called Isaac a gentle giant, which I took as the ultimate compliment. He really is such a gentle, sweet soul. He gives really great kisses now and will often stop in the middle of his play to come give hugs and kisses. He's not stingy about it, either. His baby dolls get lots of lovin', as do many pictures of animals in his books. Today he even hugged and kissed the picture of a penguin on the bowl he was eating out of! Last time Granini took him to the park, she had to bring him home early because he wouldn't stop hugging the other little kids there!

What's funny about his hugs and kisses, though, is that you'd think that when we are apart for awhile and then come home, he'd be running to give us hugs and kisses. Not so. If he's been with a babysitter and is really excited to see us, he usually has to show off for a little while before he can get any lovin' from him. He'll spin in circles, do a tap dance, or bring us toys that he's been playing with, like "Look what I can do!"

Isaac's doing really well, too, with learning to share and be gentle with other little kids. If he gets into a whiney tug of war with another kid, I have had great success breaking them up and then asking him, "Isaac, would you like to give your toy to _____? That would be so nice!" As long as I follow it up with lots of praise, he's happy to share!

This morning I was laying on the couch and I ran my fingers through his hair. He smiled and started saying "nice, nice, nice" and stroking my hair. It did feel nice, too.

I'm also really proud of how he's learning to say "please." He just learned to say it a couple of weeks ago, though it sounds more like "eese," but he says it prompted and unprompted all the time. If he whines, I'll say either, "no whining, say please," or "what do you say?" and he always stops and says "eese." He is whining a lot less these days. This morning when I opened the fridge, he took out the bottle of juice and put it on his high chair. He was saying his version of "juice? juice? juice?" and then, to my joy, added, "eese?"

I just had to tell you all these little success stories because he is a toddler, so I'm sure the stories of needing a time-out will be abundant. But I also want to remember (and, okay, brag about) what a sweetheart I've got, too.

While I'm sure temperament and personality have a lot to do with it, I'm going to take a little credit. I think heaping on the praise when Isaac does something good really motivates him to continue doing those things. I'm also sure to brag about him in his presence when Zach gets home from work. I tell Zach, "Isaac was doing so good with saying 'please' today!" It's always amazing what the little guy is listening to!