pour cereal

The good news is this means he can get his own snack. The bad news is he would be happy to eat Koala Crisp morning, noon, and night.

operate the remote control

David gets to watch t.v. every other day during my nap time. I do not want to be interrupted during my nap time because he needs to fast forward past a scary part, pause for a trip to the bathroom, or pick a new episode of Aquaman. So, I taught him how to do all this with the universal remote. We still have trouble turning off the t.v. when I come clomping down the stairs, but my half hour of rest is now safe.

Find the Koala bars, Fritos, and Seventh Generation toilet paper at the store and put them in the cart

David is almost too big to sit in the front of the grocery cart. If he rides on the back edge, I have trouble steering. If he pushes, I have trouble steering and controlling the speed. But I hate to waste kid-free time shopping, and David wants to help. So, he's been helping. I tell him what to get, and he goes to the right aisle, finds it, and brings it back. If he can't find the right aisle, he politely asks someone who works at the store. If the item is on sale (as indicated by the bright signs since David cannot read), he brings back two. Despite the fact that I often have to tell him to slow down and the other shoppers think this poor little boy is lost and abandoned, it's actually making the shopping go faster. And, he's so proud.

buy hot cocoa at the grocery store

Of course the Seattle grocery store has an in-house coffee shop. David and I have been buying him a pre-shopping hot cocoa there for years. He even got a ritual going where he would take a sip for every object we bought. But, the other day the barista was on break when we arrived, so while I was at the meat counter, David decided it was time to get a cocoa. I gave him 1.25, told 1.10 was for the cocoa, the rest went in the tip jar, and had him rehearse the three part request:

part 1: get her attention by politely saying "excuse me"
part 2: May I please have a child-sized hot cocoa with whipped cream?
part 3: Thank you.

I followed a few minutes behind, and the barista confirmed that everything had gone great.

count to 100 by 10's

David's math skills seem to have taken a leap recently. He's adding (accurately) 2+2, 3+3, and 4+4; He's adding and subtracting 1 at will; if you tell him you will be back to tuck him in in two minutes, he will let you know exactly what time that will be. Today he asked me, how long is a second, as in I'll be there in a second. I said, as long as it takes me to finish this.