As I've mentioned before, Charlie is slowly starting to enjoy hugs and cuddles and kisses...and will even sit in our laps for multiple minutes at a stretch to read books or do puzzles. He still wiggles and squirms a lot, but it's a start. In fact, he's even putting his new found appreciation for hugs to another purpose.
As all parents do, Jason and I have been working on manners with Charlie. Currently we're working on saying please, thank you and I'm sorry, and keeping our feet of the dinner table and covering our mouth when we cough.
Charlie absolutely loves "please" because in his world it truly is the magic word. It is very rare for Charlie to invoke "please" and not get his hearts desire, whether it be a banana, mom or dad to sit on the floor or just about anything else. And while I'd like to claim that this is intentional on our part, to make sure he understands the value of the word and it's impact, blah, blah, blah...in reality, he's just so stinking cute when he throws his chin in the air, grins and shouts, "peeeeeze", that we can't resist.
Thank you is coming along, but not nearly as well...he's just not as motivated to perform on demand when he already has what he wants.
I'm sorry is the latest project. While the days of purposely hitting, biting, scratching and pinching seem to have passed with the launch of Charlie's vocabulary, he is still a rough and tumble little boy and can inflict fairly serious pain when he runs into you at full speed, so we're trying to get him to understand that sometimes he hurts us and to apologize. Our efforts seemed fairly ineffectual until yesterday morning.
We were all playing on the floor when somehow or other Charlie's arm smacked me in the nose. I told him that that hurt, and he got a very concerned look on his face, looked at me and said, "Mommy, hug", then proceeded to very carefully snuggle me. It was hilarious! My only guess is that it is founded in both our attempts to get him to apologize and my habit of kissing his "owies" when he discovers them, which he thoroughly enjoys.
Fortunately for us, it wasn't a one-time thing, but continued through this morning. Each time an "ouch" has come out of Jason's or my mouth, Charlie has quietly said "hug" and snuggled us. Otis, I'm afraid, doesn't find it nearly as adorable. While hugging-out a bonk this morning, Charlie spotted Otis laying on the couch behind me and whacked him pretty hard. Otis jumped off the couch and slinked across the room glaring at me...with Charlie close behind saying "Dog-o, hug" over and over again. I laughed so hard, Jason had to come downstairs and see what was going on!
I guess the next step is to teach Charlie that as much as people appreciate receiving apologies, it's really not a good idea to hurt them just to give yourself a reason to do so...
Mulling over this morning's adventure, I knew that I remembered a time when Otis was actually more interested in Charlie than vice versa, and I have proof!
