Learning to share

Ethan brings such incredible joy into our house! Even while teaching him tough lessons it's so hard not to laugh at him. And to be honest, most of the time we do. Oh well, life is too short not to laugh at your kids.
This morning at breakfast Ethan says "mommy, may I have an orange orange please?" (he is telling us the color of the orange, not a typo) I of course say "yes you may, thank you for asking so nicely." I take the orange to him and put it on his plate. Jake then turns and says "Ethan may I have a piece of your orange please?" Ethan of course says "no, this is Ethan's orange." I then step in and say "Ethan we need to share. Please say "daddy, would you like a piece of my orange?" So Ethan being so obedient says.... "daddy, would you like a piece of mommy's orange?" LOL! Jake and I started cracking up! How can you not, really. This kid is just too smart!
So we lost the battle this morning on sharing, however... this afternoon Ethan's true colors shined through. JT was a little fussy this afternoon so Ethan says "mommy, he needs a cheerio." He goes and gets JT 1 cheerio and takes his binki out and feeds it to him. "here you go JT." Justin had the BIGGEST smile at that moment. I then decided to put JT in his special chair on the floor. I told Ethan he could keep giving JT 1 cheerio at a time. I went into the kitchen to do some dishes and get dinner rolling when I look over and hear Ethan "here you go JT. GOOD BOY! YOU DID IT! That's so good!" My heart melted! (you can imagine his tone, it's the way I talk to JT, you know mommy style, all high pitched and excited).
Needless to say friends, when you think you have failed teaching your toddlers the lessons of life take a look when they aren't paying attention. I bet your lessons have gone farther than you think!