cweanup!

We're not really sure how it happened, or if it will last...but we're trying not to shake the boat too much.

Abby has turned into a bit of a neat freak.  Or, maybe that's not the right term.  She likes things to be clean and in their place.  She's developed a strong sense of order and rules.  It's interesting to watch.  Let me give you some examples.

Earlier this week, we hosted a play group at our house.  Two other moms came with their 2 kids each.  Ages ranged from 3.5 years to 11 months.  Abs woke up from nap, and shortly after we had living room full of kiddos who were happily helping themselves to her things.  You could tell she wasn't sure what to make of it.  She clung to me for a second, but before long she was following around the other kids saying "uh-oh, uh-oh" and frantically cleaning up after them.  One little girl got out the crayons and the paper.  Abby quickly started putting all the crayons back in the bucket we keep them in.  One little boy dumped out some blocks, and Abby put them back in the drawer just as quickly.  When another girl played with the number magnets on the fridge - Abby looked exasperated and went behind her to line them up in a row again.

Now, it didn't last the whole time.  After a few minutes, she was playing too and we all had a nice time.  But, you could tell - she knew where things should be and was trying to maintain some sort of order (control?) over the situation.

Example two.  Abby is not all that tidy when she plays - our rooms end up with toys everywhere.  But, when we say "Abby, time to clean up"  She jumps up and says, "OK! Cweanup!"  And she does a good job.  We give her specific tasks and lots (and lots and lots) of reinforcement.  It's now at the point that if we forget to clean up, she brings it up.  If we say, "Ok, let's go get ready for bed now" she'll point at her mess and say "cweanup now?"

On that same note - she likes her room to have everything in it's place.  The other day, we walked into her room and she exclaimed "Oh NO! Book! Book go on shelf!"  She was emphatic. There was a single book in the middle of her room and she ran over to it and not only put it on her bookshelf, but put it vertically in the exact spot it came out of earlier that morning.

She loves to play with her diapers and routinely gets several out in the mornings.  But now she not only gathers them back up when she's done, but she tucks them back into the basket we keep them in just like they should be.  The other night, she had just finished putting up all her diapers and she stopped, put up her index finger and said "Oh! Big Birt!"  She took off into my bedroom where she opened my closet, moved some shoes, and found a big bird diaper that she had, apparently, left there that morning.  She happily reunited him with the rest of the diapers and said "aaaaalll better"

If we forget something - she reminds us.  "Mama!  The gate!"  When I forget to put the gate up that blocks the stairs.  Or, "Crib up!" if we don't raise her dropside quickly enough after putting her down.  She asks, "jacket? shoes?....PARK??"  if we start getting ready to go outside.

She knows and loves her routines.  At dinner, when I ask her if she's finished, she'll say "All done.  Wipe? Trash? Cweanup? Baf? Diaper? Teeth? Books? Nigh-nigh?"  If, for some reason, I tell her that part of the routine won't happen today "No bath tonight" She'll say in a very sad voice, "Nooooo baf, no no no baf, bye bye baf"

I'm sure there are many more examples, but these are the ones that come to mind right now.  I just wanted to document that this happened.  Because, I'm not entirely sure it will last forever....and maybe when she's 13 and her room is a mess, I can remind her that as a 1 year old, she was able to show responsible behaviors, ha  ;)