Waterlogged

Imagine a kid actually wanting to wash his hands! That's every mother's dream. I actually have the opposite problem to most parents: how do I get him to stop washing his hands.

"Wash-a hands? Wash-a hands?" he says over and over again. But it's really all just a ploy to play in the sink. Once he's on the step stool with the water running, it's almost impossible to pull him away. Any time I try he yells, "No!!!! Wash-a hands! Wash-a hands!"

We do let him play in the sink for extended periods of time. It's a great way to clean the floors! That's where most of the water goes. And if you throw in a couple of dirty dishes for him, they come out sparkling clean. Just as he can't get enough of the water, he also can't get enough of the dish soap!

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There was a dead wasp on our windowsill one morning as he sat eating a piece of toast. Baby boy noticed it, and gave me a very concerned look.

"Fly?" he asked, pointing at it.

"No that's a wasp."

"He sleepy," he informed me.

"Yes," I replied.

"Give wasp toast?" he asked.

Later that day, he noticed that the wasp was still "sleeping" on the windowsill. "Wasp sleepy," he told me. "I give him more toast."

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Generosity abounds! Baby boy enjoys trying to "share" his castoff food with others. He's always wanting to give empty banana peels and grapes that he's dropped in the mud to his buddy at the park.

"Give grape Motsumi?" he asks. I have to tell him that it's very nice to want to share but Motsumi probably has his own bananas and grapes.

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At the dinner table hubby and I get demand after demand. "I want grapefruit," "More ott (milk)," "More mushrooms" and so on. He almost never wants to eat what's on the menu. One night, hubby was about to go into the kitchen to fill one of the demands.

"Don't bring him anything," I said. "He's just asking for the sake of asking. He just wants control. If we cave in all the time he's never going to eat what's in front of him."

Baby boy was listening.

"I want control!" he yelled. Was I right or what?