Saying Thank You
Another etiquette issue has also taken an interesting turn.
A while back, one of Ethan's great aunts said "Thank you" to him when he handed her something and, for some reason, it stuck. He began saying "T'ank 'oo" whenever anyone gave him some food. Presumably he just likes the way it sounds or how it feels in his mouth. Nah! He likes the smiles and attention he gets when he comes out with his cute little version of it. We didn't really care why, we just hoped we had slipped, unnoticed, right past one of the major "etiquette hurdles" we had expected to encounter.
This went on for some time. If food was put on his plate, he ate it. If you handed it to him or put it right in his mouth, he said thank you. Somewhere along the line, he had decided that if we sometimes put food in his mouth then he should be putting food in our mouths. Not surprisingly, we thought this was also cute and sweet and it ended up encouraging him to keep doing it. Typically, he'd feed us a piece of something and then we'd feed him a piece of something back. Occasionally, we wouldn't be interested in what he offered and we'd just pretend to eat while simply giving it back to him to eat. There were always "thank yous" all around and, either way, he ended up getting some food back.
The other night, my wife was offering him pieces of pear; one of his favorites. After a while, he picked up a piece off the plate and toddled across the room where he very sweetly offered the piece to his "Grampy" who was lying on the sofa. Grampy then gave the obligatory thank you. All should have been well.
There was a slight problem however. Grampy also likes pears and, because he wasn't the one feeding Ethan, he didn't have anything else to give back. Without thinking about it, he promptly ate the piece of pear. Ethan had watched him do this but still quietly waited for his piece of food back. And waited. And waited. He then climbed up on the sofa and onto his Grampy's chest. He placed one hand on either side of Grampy's mouth, pulled it wide open, and proceeded to peer around inside looking for his pear.
I guess the manners still need some work. Permalink
A while back, one of Ethan's great aunts said "Thank you" to him when he handed her something and, for some reason, it stuck. He began saying "T'ank 'oo" whenever anyone gave him some food. Presumably he just likes the way it sounds or how it feels in his mouth. Nah! He likes the smiles and attention he gets when he comes out with his cute little version of it. We didn't really care why, we just hoped we had slipped, unnoticed, right past one of the major "etiquette hurdles" we had expected to encounter.
This went on for some time. If food was put on his plate, he ate it. If you handed it to him or put it right in his mouth, he said thank you. Somewhere along the line, he had decided that if we sometimes put food in his mouth then he should be putting food in our mouths. Not surprisingly, we thought this was also cute and sweet and it ended up encouraging him to keep doing it. Typically, he'd feed us a piece of something and then we'd feed him a piece of something back. Occasionally, we wouldn't be interested in what he offered and we'd just pretend to eat while simply giving it back to him to eat. There were always "thank yous" all around and, either way, he ended up getting some food back.
The other night, my wife was offering him pieces of pear; one of his favorites. After a while, he picked up a piece off the plate and toddled across the room where he very sweetly offered the piece to his "Grampy" who was lying on the sofa. Grampy then gave the obligatory thank you. All should have been well.
There was a slight problem however. Grampy also likes pears and, because he wasn't the one feeding Ethan, he didn't have anything else to give back. Without thinking about it, he promptly ate the piece of pear. Ethan had watched him do this but still quietly waited for his piece of food back. And waited. And waited. He then climbed up on the sofa and onto his Grampy's chest. He placed one hand on either side of Grampy's mouth, pulled it wide open, and proceeded to peer around inside looking for his pear.
I guess the manners still need some work. Permalink
posted by Rob | 3:47 PM
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