So helpful

Aaron is getting to the age where he wants to do everything, which is ideal for molding him into a little helper. For example, when we take his clothes off for bed, we let him put the old outfit in the hamper. It makes him happy. He gets to turn the light off to his room at night and he gets to open the garage door when we are going out. He is even learning to pick up his toys before nap time. I'm a firm believer in children doing age appropriate chores as soon as they are able, so anything we find he can do, we make it a part of his routine and praise his helfulness.

One thing he really enjoys doing is helping out at the grocery store. We shop at Trader Joe's where there are no conveyor belts. The checker just takes the items directly from your shopping cart. So Aaron is always eager to hand stuff to the checker. He spends most of the shopping cart ride turned around backwards, trying to get stuff out of the cart. In fact, we try to pack the cart carefully so he can't reach stuff. Because he will start pulling items from the cart in the middle of our shopping trip and hand them to me, or Thom, or just someone passing by. But once we are are the checkout stand, we will hand items that aren't too heavy to Aaron to hand to the checker.

Even the checkers who I wouldn't expect to be interested in kids seem to enjoy his enthusiasm. He doesn't just hand an item to them. He says "uh, uh, uh", getting more urgent the longer it takes for them to grab whatever he is handing them. Most of the time, the checker will start giving him items from the bottom of the cart so that he can hand them right back. He gets so pleased with himself. But he still doesn't seem to understand the whole process, because as soon as they put a full grocery bag in the cart, he tries to reach in and hand something back to them.

Sometimes Aaron is too helpful. It's no secret that Thom and I are trying for another baby. Several weeks ago, I went to buy some home pregnancy tests at Longs (no, we aren't pregnant yet). I had Aaron with me in the cart. I was carrying the test in my hand. As we approached the line to check out, Aaron takes the package from me, then turns around and offers it to the young woman in line ahead of us. She appears to be college age. Turning a little pink, I tell Aaron "I don't think she wants that." The woman looks down at what Aaron is offering her, smiles and says "No, not yet."