Miscellanous Manners

Eli's using some wonderful new language these days. Although he has been incredibly manner-ful in the past, lately he seems to have gotten lazy, dropping the 'thank you' from "No, thank you" and the 'please' from some of his requests. (In fact, he's taken to saying, "I dant (want) dat!" in place of a request which has really frustrated me.) Lehr and I worked on him this week with saying, "May I please have....." and it has really stuck with him! Sometimes we have to remind him, but he says it very well, and usually without a fight.

Speaking of manners, I taught Eli about 'ladies first' when we first started our swim lessons a month ago. He and I approached at least four doorways together on those days, so I thought it was time he stopped dashing in front of me. I told him to say, "Ladies first." as he allowed whoever the lady in question was to go through the doorway before him. Then we had to discuss who was a lady and who was not, which caused more confusion for him, but that's another story. I am proud to announce that yesterday Eli gave me his first "Ladies first" without any prompting. I almost missed it because I wasn't expecting it in any way! We were in the garage after community group (10PM), walking into the house. I walked up to the open door and he kinda shrunk himself into the corner by his play car and said, "Lay-deees, firsss!" Proud mama was I!!

As I've stated a few times recently, Maddux is standing on her own more and more often. The other day I was in Eli's room with the kids and Maddux seemed especially stable, so I pulled her into the middle of the room and tested her. I would put my hands on her hips to let her get her balance and then slowly take them away. More than half the time she would stay standing and then slowly lower herself to sitting. Each time she did, I clapped and said, "Yeah, Maddux!" Eli really got into that. Now he says to her, "Tand up, Max! Yeah, Max!", even though she doesn't stand on his command.