Six

I honestly think Jack is brilliant.

Yesterday while trying to clean up before Husband's mother came to visit, I came up with a little game to keep Jack preoccupied. It was called, "Please put this away for Mama." The game itself was about as fun as 52 card pickup but he's 18 months old. He doesn't know the difference.

Jack caught on quickly. Truthfully, he was only in charge of two things: throwing things away in the trash after I told him and picking up loose change. I have an oversized super-cheesy Coke bottle that's a bank. Jack loves putting $$ in it. So much, in fact, that after he collected all the loose change from our bedroom floor, he started scouring the entire upstairs for more coinage. When that was done, he motioned "more" in sign language. That's when I came with putting stuff in the garbage.

Digging around under the bed I found tons of surprises -- pacificers, old (unused) diapers, toys, a remote control and other goodies. Jack knew where everything thing went. And he got on a roll. I began not having to tell him where to put stuff. Most of the things in our room belonged there they were just out of place.

Later, I was getting his bath water ready when I noticed a travel sized shampoo and conditioner that I had bought for my cancer walk but never finished. Guess where it was? On the outside corner of the tub where those products go. I think that's pretty impressive.

Along with that,
Jack's teachers told me last week Jack likes to hand out the other kids jackets when their parents arrive. Apparently, when he sees a mom he immediately runs to that kid's coat and then runs it that parent. Think about that: not only does he know who belongs to each coat, he knows everyone's parents.

If that doesn't cause you to say "wow" nothing will.