Xander Week 73 - Following Simple Directions!
March 17, 2008
I feel like following simple directions is a milestone in communication with your kid. For a while now Xander has been able to get his shoes and bring them to us so we can put them on. More recently, he has started following other instructions - please help me pick up your toys, please throw this away (that’s his favorite), please help me put these clothes into the dryer, etc. At day care last week they told me “Xander is so smart!” They were specifically referring to the fact that he follows their instructions as well. I imagine that any kid who is willing to pick up after himself would quickly become a favorite 
Xander’s new thing is helping to clean - he loves to help clean the tray on his high chair. For about a month now he’s been pretty specific when he’s done eating - everything must be removed from the tray. If you’re paying attention, that’s great. He’ll pick up every left over piece of food (sometimes it takes a while if we’ve had rice…) and put it back into his bowl. If you’re not paying attention, it’s a little frustrating because everything he would have handed to you ends up on the floor…
Xander’s favorite thing to clean is his face (I think it’s because he’s hoping that if he cleans it, we won’t…) Recently he’s started a very cute new habit. He’ll climb up onto the couch, up onto the arm of the couch to get to the end table where we keep Kleenex. He takes one, “wipes” his nose (mostly pats it), then he climbs off the couch, walks into the kitchen and throws the Kleenex away. If we let him, he’d continue doing this until all of the Kleenexes were gone, so I usually hide the box after one trip. It’s pretty funny to watch the whole process, and I’m not sure where this neatness came from, but I’ll take it!
its so cute!
“Xander, throw this away”… AND HE DOES!!!