Helping

Aaron loves helping. Or at least thinking he's helping. He's been helping with various things for awhile - putting dirty clothes in his hamper, an empty milk jug in the recycling bin, or handing items from the grocery cart to the checkout lady at Trader Joe's. But we are finding more and more ways for him to help out. Like putting washclothes away in the bathroom when I am folding his laundry. Or helping put clothes from the washer into the dryer.

But Aaron's definition of helping extends to other tasks as well. One day, I was changing his diaper. As I was unfolding a new diaper, he grabbed it from me and then handed it back and said "Helping Mama!" Or when I am reading a book to him and he knows a word that is coming in the story, he will call it out, sometimes in the right place, but not always. And then he might add "Helping!" meaning, "I'm helping you read the story!"

Although in those cases, it might be a stretch of the imagination to say he is actually helping, there are other times when he says he is helping and I have no idea what he is talking about. One day, when Larissa was babysitting, I was waiting for my computer to install updates and reboot (with Windows Vista, I knew this would be awhile). So I decided to go outside and walk through the yard, possibly picking some tomatoes and peaches if they were ripe. Larissa and Aaron decided to go with me. As I was examining the garden, Aaron led Larissa down into the orchard towards the drainage ditch (which he likes to walk down). As he walked away, I heard him say "Helping Mama!" I'm not sure how he was helping me, but I smiled just the same.