New Skills

I love watching my kids learn new things and show signs of growth. This seems to be the week for Olivia and Steven. (As I'm typing, Steven is talking about going "up to the sky! Okey dokey?" and I just caught him climbing and perching on his knees on the back of the couch! AUGH!)

Steven's new skill is dressing and undressing himself. Yay! Woo-hoo! How exciting! I've been working with him for a while, trying to get him to do some of it on his own, but he hasn't quite been able to manage more than just little portions of the process. Then, suddenly, this week it has "clicked." He still can't quite do it all totally by himself, but just an extra hold here or a tiny pull there from me gets the job done. And he's so very proud! He cackles with delight with each victory. What a precious thing to witness!

Olivia's new skill is an incredibly helpful and exciting one for me! When we moved last summer, I discovered that - for the first time in nearly two years - we'd have need of our vacuum cleaner again. My goal? Teach the girls to vacuum the kids' rooms. The problem? Well, between the heavy vacuum cleaner, the rather deep pile carpet, and the height - or lack thereof - of the girls, they just couldn't seem to manage the vacuum cleaner. So, I decided to postpone the vacuuming lessons and just ask them to make sure the rooms were ready for me to vacuum each Tuesday and Friday.

This past Friday, I had been told that the rooms were ready. I walked into the girls' room to discover that Olivia already had the vacuum out, plugged in, and ready to go. She then proceeded to turn it on and maneuver it beautifully across the room! So, I left her to do the bedrooms. Then, this morning, having forgotten her newfound skill, I asked the girls to have both bedrooms ready for me by the time I got out of the shower. I finished showering, got dressed, and walked into the hall to grab the vacuum - it was missing. I walked into Steven's room thinking the girls had moved it in there for me. Nope...but the floor did look strangely patterned and clean! Sure enough, the girls worked so quickly that they had both rooms ready for Olivia to get all of the vacuuming done before I ever turned off the shower! Now that's a blessing! :-)

I'm sure Angie will have a new skill to share very soon as well! Oh how fun it is to be a mom who can watch each phase of this growth. I am so blessed to be with my kiddos through it all!

Comments

Choate Family said…
Way to go, Hibbard kids!
Mandy said…
Isn't it so fun to see how much they can learn in such a short time? I love those milestone moments, too!

Madison is soon to be 8yrs old and she's gotten really good at using the vacuum, too! It's SOOO helpful!

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