Owen's Four-Letter Word

I'm actually surprised that my boys haven't learned this word sooner. Some background: Westley has a little fire truck that the boys love to play with. It plays some annoying little jingles, and they can sit on it and ride, or they can push it around. But for some reason, they can't seem to share it. Owen was monopolizing the fire truck, and Drew was waiting so patiently (which was pretty good of him to do; he usually screams and cries), so I decided that Owen's turn was over for a while and I pulled him off to give Drew a turn. Owen was pretty upset. I hugged him and told him that he'd had a long enough turn and now it was Drew's turn. Owen hugged me back, put his little hands on my cheeks and said, "Mine. Mine!" It was so funny. He just had this look on his face like, "It's okay, Mom. We don't need to share."

I read in the nursery manual for church that kids this age aren't expected to share; it's not a concept that they understand. And I agree. They don't know what the word "share" even means. Whenever I tell them to share, Drew starts singing the clean-up song. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share! But his version sounds like this: "Clea-up, clea-up, share!"

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I read Parent's Magazine from time to time. Sometimes, I read an article and think, is this person really a parent? Or are my kids just different; 'cause what they're suggesting sounds a little impractical. Over all, though, the magazine has a lot of good articles, and fun ideas for games and things. One article I read mentioned giving praise where deserved, rather than just saying "don't do this, don't do that" all the time. I decided to try it out, and I've been watching for ways to tell Owen and Drew that I appreciate what they're doing. The other day, Drew was sitting on the kitchen floor petting Merle. He was being very gentle, so I told him, "Good job, Drew. Thank you for petting Merle so nicely!" Drew really appreciated the praise. For the next fifteen minutes, he followed Merle around the house (Merle was actually trying to get away from Drew), petting him and saying, "Nice! Nice!" And now, when he sees Merle, he yells, "Nice!" and wants to pet him. Silly, silly.