Well, Sydney is around 19 months old now. Long past time she learned something about her proper gender role in life! And what better way to start than with housework?
First, we learned how to do the dishes….
Next, how to mop (and boy, our kitchen floor needs it!).
And, of course, emptying the litter box. Maybe now the cats will like Sydney! (Right now, the cats tend to flee in terror every time Syndey approaches – they’ve had that ‘tude ever since she learned to walk.)
Doing all that hard housework made Syndey tired!
In fact, she just snoozed right off in the middle of sweeping Charles’ carpet. What a lazy good-for-nothing, huh? When she wakes up I’ll give her a good talking to.
Ummm…..dishes in the catbox? or the toilet? Yikes!
Never mind….the photo showed up now! (At first, it showed the litter box pic twice).
What a sweetie peetie!
Stephanie has a little “housewife training kit” her grandmother got her from a school that no longer needed it, with a shopping cart and a refrigerator and an oven and an ironing board and little accessories for everything. She goes nuts playing with it – making sandwiches and cooking and giving people tea.
She’s also got a set of screwdrivers and other tools that she uses to play repair person, which she also loves to do – she sits in the bathtub with a screwdriver and her toy helicopter trying to unscrew its casing, saying “I fixin’ it!”. If forced to choose, I know she would pick the kitchen stuff but fortunately she doesn’t have to choose.
You know, on reflection, we’re socializing her to be a very well-rounded servant.
Err, Mr. Amp and Mr. Matt have some ‘splainin to do. *clears throat* Kitty litter?
La Lubu (didn’t your name used to be La Luba?), you must have looked in the first 60 seconds or so – I posted, realized the error immediately, and was hoping that I’d fixed it before anyone spotted the error. Oh, well.
Robert, how old is Stephanie?
Kim, Matt had nothing to do with it. :-) For what it’s worth, Sydney never touched the kitty litter – she picked up the litter scoop by the handle and stuck the scoop into the litter box. She does that a lot of the times she’s in the bathroom, actually, unless you stop her.
2 years 7 months. It is fascinating to watch her personality blossom.
No, Amp, I was always La Lubu, but sometimes other folks say “La Luba” ‘cuz they’re remembering “women who run with the wolves”. It’s the same thing. Lubu is the Sicilian spelling/pronounciation; we tend to change the ‘o’ and ‘a’ endings to ‘u’. I’m asserting my Sicilianitude. ;-)
She loads the dishes into the dishwasher the same way I do. :)
Can I hire her? She does a better job than I do at cleaning. (And I was going to comment on the kitty litter too. Hey, It’s the over protective mom in me!)
Yeah, Syd’s obsession with the kitty litter squicks me, too — and I’m the mean NASTY housemate who lacks any form of parental instinct and likes children best sauteed with onions and eaten on toast.
She invariably goes for my filthy overflowing ashtrays, too. I think she’s got a perverse fondness for inspiring those horrified “Oh, NO! Don’t play with THAT, hon!” responses from the grown-ups around her.
Damn right! You better set her straight and remind her of her womanly place, lest she forget and emerge as a (*gasp*) feminist!!!
I know, unthinkable considering the house she’s growing up in, but always an ominous possibility.
Hello,
I’m writing a thesis about play for parents of young children with developmental issues. I’d like to use the first picture of your son for a part where I advise parents that it is okay to let their child help them in the kitchen even if they are young.
can you please let me know if it’s okay to use the picture?
greetings from belgium,
Sien
Hi Sien,
Sydney is actually a girl, but yes, please feel free to use the picture. If only we could get her nearly 10 year old self to be so enthusiastic about the same chores, and that she differentiate between cleaning on minecraft versus our real abode.
Kindly,
Kim, the mommy of the baby blogged duet, Sydney and Maddox
Okay, you can use my picture. This is me from eight years ago.