18 Days of Celebrating 18 Months -- the "Mel" and other Tasks

No pictures today, just words...

Tyler LOVES getting the mail (or "mel" as we call it... yes, we're screwing up our kid).  Now, any day that's decent weather, I wait until he gets home to go out and get the mail from the mailbox.  He eagerly waits at the front door, turning the handle, trying to get the party started.  (Note to self: KEEP FRONT DOOR LOCKED AT ALL TIMES!).  I help him down the front stairs, and then he runs down the sidewalk and driveway (with me right there beside him... mom, don't send me emails about my kid running into the street).

At the mailbox, he eagerly bounces up and down, saying "Up, up!" until I pick him up and he opens the mailbox door.  The result?  Either "Yay mel!" or "Nooo mel!" (both results met with excitement).  If there's mail, he'll gladly hold onto it and proudly bring it back to the front door to show Daddy.

He's very proud of the mail, until he sees a nut.  Or a stick.  Or a leaf.  Then, he drops the mail, leaving his assistant to pick it up and bring it to the house.  Eh, we're working on it.

There are a few other tasks that Tyler meets with enthusiasm.

1. Clean up -- when he's done with a toy and wants to move onto something else, he can (usually) be convinced to clean up first.  He particularly likes putting his Legos back in their bag.  Thank goodness, since no one enjoys stepping on Legos!
2. "Can you bring Daddy the [blank]?" -- He's gotten REALLY AWESOME at bringing us items.  This is helpful for lazy parenting (bring me the thing you're not supposed to be playing with), as well as "I can't play with you right now, but I'm going to distract you from that fact by asking you to take something to Daddy, which seems like a game to you."  Just being honest here, folks.
3. Laundry -- he's obsessed with the laundry room (probably because it's off-limits 95% of the time), so he sometimes helps me transfer socks from the washer to the dryer or helps me bring clean clothes into the living room to fold.
4. Turning lights off or on -- As a kid, I was absolutely horrible about turning lights off once I left a room.  "Who's in the bathroom?" would be yelled through the house.  "No one!"  "Then why are the lights on?"  When we're done with bath time or we're done playing upstairs, we make sure all the lights are turned off.  Tyler loves light switches (learning that whole cause and effect thing), so he likes the responsibility of making sure the lights are off when we're done.

Such a good helper!