Or maybe two! My dh does the laundry every weekend -- all of it in a big marathon laundry day. 
So by Sunday morning, there were baskets of clean folded clothes lined up in the living room waiting to be put away.
I was in the kitchen and heard my 4 y.o. yell that Alexander (2.75) had overturned a basket and was about to dump the rest of them. (Totally in character for him!
) I hustled out to the living room ready to bark a command to stop. But I guess this GD stuff is getting habit forming, because instead I found myself down at his level, getting his attention while restraining him from getting to the baskets. Once I had his attention, I said (in a normal, non-angry voice), "Alexander, Poppy worked very hard to wash all of our clothes and fold them and put them in the baskets so that they don't get messy and dirty again. When you dump the baskets you are undoing his hard work." Lo and behold, he hung his little head and said, "Sorry." Me: "Why don't you help me put these clothes back in the basket?" He DID! And he didn't dump any other baskets, even though I left them right where they were! Yee-ha! We're makin' progress! :LOL (Thank you Maya43 -- or are you 44 now? -- for the inspiration to try this method of calling attention to how actions affect others.)
You know, many "experts" say that it's a waste of time to talk to young children about behavior. Certainly action is needed too, but the waste of words is when you talk *at* children, which is what we tend to do when we are frustrated. I talked *to* him and it worked. (This time -- it doesn't always, but it's a process.)
The other isn't really a specific success, but rather an indication that my dd is becoming a generous and thoughtful child for whatever reason.
Today I sat down to fold a load of towels. (The last load dh did, which he didn't have time to fold.) I thought about asking dd to help me, but I decided I didn't care that much, so I just said nothing. I hadn't finished folding the first washcloth before she had seated herself beside me and started to help. We talked about stuff and at one point I said, "I really like folding together with you." She said, "Well, I just noticed."
If you are feeling jealous at this point, don't. Today also contained all out war over nap time with DS. ("But I'm not :yawning: :yawning: :yawning: 'leeepy!"
) 
Like I said, it's a process...
So by Sunday morning, there were baskets of clean folded clothes lined up in the living room waiting to be put away.I was in the kitchen and heard my 4 y.o. yell that Alexander (2.75) had overturned a basket and was about to dump the rest of them. (Totally in character for him!
) I hustled out to the living room ready to bark a command to stop. But I guess this GD stuff is getting habit forming, because instead I found myself down at his level, getting his attention while restraining him from getting to the baskets. Once I had his attention, I said (in a normal, non-angry voice), "Alexander, Poppy worked very hard to wash all of our clothes and fold them and put them in the baskets so that they don't get messy and dirty again. When you dump the baskets you are undoing his hard work." Lo and behold, he hung his little head and said, "Sorry." Me: "Why don't you help me put these clothes back in the basket?" He DID! And he didn't dump any other baskets, even though I left them right where they were! Yee-ha! We're makin' progress! :LOL (Thank you Maya43 -- or are you 44 now? -- for the inspiration to try this method of calling attention to how actions affect others.)You know, many "experts" say that it's a waste of time to talk to young children about behavior. Certainly action is needed too, but the waste of words is when you talk *at* children, which is what we tend to do when we are frustrated. I talked *to* him and it worked. (This time -- it doesn't always, but it's a process.)
The other isn't really a specific success, but rather an indication that my dd is becoming a generous and thoughtful child for whatever reason.
Today I sat down to fold a load of towels. (The last load dh did, which he didn't have time to fold.) I thought about asking dd to help me, but I decided I didn't care that much, so I just said nothing. I hadn't finished folding the first washcloth before she had seated herself beside me and started to help. We talked about stuff and at one point I said, "I really like folding together with you." She said, "Well, I just noticed." If you are feeling jealous at this point, don't. Today also contained all out war over nap time with DS. ("But I'm not :yawning: :yawning: :yawning: 'leeepy!"
) Like I said, it's a process...
