Lauding the little

The upside to spending 12 hours a day every day with someone who poops his pants is that small things are magnified. Things that are so simple to do every day, like say, turning off the light or saying the word, "please," are crowning achievements for our little guy. We have become praisers. "Good job, Ethan," is uttered probably more than 50 times a day in our house. I get excited when he zips up a zipper or gets his shoe halfway on his foot. Or when he points out a big truck.

The only problem is that when I am with people taller than 2 1/2 feet, I forget that these tasks may not be so monumental. Like last week when I pointed an airplane in the sky out to Ryan and he muttered, "Yeah, an airplane. Thanks." Or last night when Ryan turned the switch on the lamp and I exclaimed, "Good job!" and had to hold myself back from clapping.