Friday, January 18, 2008

The Working Baby Starts Earning Her Keep

Sure, we've had random moments of helpfulness--she will sometimes take things to the garbage, or fetch her hat or scarf, or carry something to someone, or pick up the pens and paperclips she spilled on the floor (and yes, thank you, I know that paper clips do not make the best toys for a baby, but it's also true that they'll keep a baby busy for a long, long time, and that's the name of this game, most days)--but this week I feel we made real progress.

In a flurry of unpacking and packing to get ready for a conference, we ended up with bags full of styrofoam peanuts and broken-down boxes and other stuff that was taking up too much space in the office. So, on my way out one afternoon, I grabbed a couple of the bags, which were piled up near the door, and turned--with great pride--to see that the Working Baby was tugging down one of her own, which she refused to let go of (because let's face it, she's coming up on two, and head-shaking is her new hobby). So she carried it down the door and down the hallway and tried to carry it down the stairs. And then she hauled that bag down the street, held high, around the corner and almost all the way to the dumpster.

So, my question is, how long until I can make the case that we should be paying her? Or maybe I should start keeping a volunteer log for her? Clearly, the way college admissions is going, by the time she's seventeen it can only help to prove she's been volunteering productively since she was a year and a half old. . . .

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