More lessons in parenting

Our daycare provider is a veteran "auntie" of 20 years.  Like the TV nannies, she is teaching Bobby and me, who are obviously green, a thing or two about raising a well behaved child.  The other day, she told me that Xander didn't want to put his toys away, but she insisted that he do it while he fussed.  I told Bobby when he got home, and we thought about how we let Xander play while we put his toys away.  We decided to crack down and make our son clean up after himself.  This involved several nights of leading a crying X by the hand to his toy box, prying toys out of his hand, and putting them in.  It wasn't easy.  He's at tantrum age and is never at his best in the evening.  However, now he excitedly grabs his toys and throws them into the toy box.  He's so enthusiastic about this that the other day, when I asked him to help me put some towels away, he grabbed a stack, ran to his room, and threw them in the toy box.  He's proud to be helping.  Lesson learned.  Parenting a toddler involves a lot--A LOT-- of conflict, but those moments when he behaves like a good little boy make the other 75% of the time worth it.

Today, we went to Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens, which is only a few miles from our house.  Xander got to feed some ducks and fish.  He would rather have gone swimming with them.