Helpful J.D.

Yesterday was a day that I really enjoyed having a 5 1/2 year old. J.D. wanted to be very helpful and involved. After church, J.D. and Jake were playing quietly upstairs while Joey took a nap. After they had been up there for a couple of hours, J.D. came down and said, "I just put Jake down for a nap. I didn't need any grown-ups to help me." When he was further questioned, he told us that he put Jake in his bed and sang him songs. What a pleasant surprise!

Later, we were getting ready to have the missionaries over for dinner. J.D. was helping me set the table and he said that he wanted to make "name tags" (place cards) for everyone. I got some card stock for him and he made the following placecards:

Finished table

He drew bikes on the missionaries' "name tags" and as soon as they got there he wrote their last names on the tags.

Dad got a smiley face.

Joey got a rattle.

J.D. told me that he didn't want to write "Mom," but he wanted to write "Jody." He wanted to draw my blue pants, but I convinced him to draw a flower from my shirt also.

Jake got a lunch box.

J.D. drew his rocket lunch box on his name tag. He also put numbers on the all of the tags (in the order of where everyone was sitting). I took the pictures before he put all the numbers on them. Jake was number 1, J.D. was number 2, etc. Also, after dinner was over he wanted to make name tags for Grandma and Grandpa and Nana for next time they visit.

It was enjoyable to have him be so helpful yesterday. Especially since as I am typing this post he has been downstairs in time out for hitting his brother and on Saturday he was driving me crazy while we were at the store. I guess you take the good with the bad and try to remember the good during the bad!