Do As I'm Doing

As parents, you're constantly warned that your children will start copying you--in act and speech. You don't believe it until it actually happens, usually in the form of a bad word at church. But you beam at the times that your child actually mimics something that you've been doing, even if the thought process is a little off.

For example, Josh and his grandma made a batch of playdoh last week. There is a set schedule of activities that Josh must do--at his own admission--when he goes to grandma's house to be babysat while I endure a boring lecture on Friday mornings. One of these activities is to play with playdoh--but as I understand it, it's more Grandma makes birds out of playdoh and Josh then plays with the birds. In any case, the playdoh was gone last week when he went there, so they made a batch of it. Josh got to take home (grandma's) birds and nests and eggs with him. We got the playdoh out this afternoon so he could make a cake with it. (At our house, he makes cakes. At Grandma's, it's birds. Never birds at our house and cakes at her house. Go figure.) So, I left him to his own devices as I worked on the computer for a few hours (the boy has an incredible attention span).

A while later, I went in to check on him and he was "cleaning" up. However, the playdoh was not to be found. I casually asked him (while inside I was frantic--does playdoh flush down a toilet? Does it eventually dissolve if it's stuffed inside a sink?) where it went. He, just as casually replied "in the garbage. I was done playing."

A few weeks back, I had bought him some playdoh from the store. He kept getting it on the floor and on the bottom of his feet (don't ask) and then tromping it all over the carpet. So I threw it away. He was a little sad, but seemed to get over it fast enough. Apparently, he thinks that when you're done playing with playdoh it goes in the garbage. Fair enough. At 74 cents a jar, I can indulge in this little hobby every once in a while if it means not having to pick it out of the carpet.

The thought process might be a little off, but the kid has the right idea. Score one point for Josh.