Advice

I just read an article on unwanted advice. In it, a woman had her 14 month old son at the store. He was cranky, so to placate him, she gave him a cookie. I guess some old woman saw her do that and told her she needed to take the little boy outside and give him a spanking. The old woman then took the cookie away from the boy. I can't believe someone would actually do that. It reminded me of some good experiences that I have had with Joseph.

At the airport. on the way to San Diego, I decided to change Joseph's diaper before we boarded. I had a lot of stuff and I needed to wash my hands. I told Joseph to wait by our stuff while I washed my hands. I can't remember everything else I explained to him, but an older woman looked at me and Joseph. She said, "You are doing a good job raising him." I can't remember what my actions really were or what I said, but it made me feel good.

Last week at the grocery store, Joseph was in his car shopping cart. He didn't want to drive anymore, so I put him in the cart. We were talking to each other as I waited to get chicken. I gave him a big hug and kiss, and he grabbed my head and wouldn't let go. He was giving me a "big hug." An old woman walking buy stopped and said hi to us. She then said she was so grateful to have seen us because it was a special moment. She thanked us for letting her witness it. It was strange but nice.

Speaking of driving, Joseph likes to "drive" cars. The other day, he pretended to have a steering wheel. I told him I was driving straight, so he held his wheel and pretended to move it only very little. When I said we were taking a right, he turned his steering wheel in the right direction. When I said we were turning left, he turned his wheel the correct direction. He yells at us when he sees a red light. "Red light mean stop!" When he sees it turn green, he cheers and says, "we can go!" He seems to be getting right and left. He does think the yellow light is orange. When he sees us stopped at a green light, waiting for oncoming traffic so that we can turn, he gets a little flustered. We have to explain that cars are coming and we have to wait for them to go.