The Helper

I took Ane to the aforementioned bridal shower last night. (By the way, Resiss, the Bride says hello, and yes, you’re invited. The invitations haven’t gone out yet, though.) I had gone through the ground rules with Ane before going – she needed to behave, she could not touch the presents, and she needed to stay with me. If she followed the rules, there would be treats.

Her beloved Sunday School teacher, Teacher Rose, was there, and Gracie and L.’s mom as well (I was kind of hoping Gracie would be there, but she had opted for an early bedtime, apparently), and it was at our church, so Ane was very comfortable. She greeted all the adults and hugged those she knew, and she got to the Bride and her mother before I even did.

Keeping her still was a bit harder, especially while we were waiting in line for snacks and treats. Once we had food, she did very well. She had her own plate full of cheese and fruit (I had all the sugary stuff on my plate). Now, Ane does like cheese, and she was downing chunks of Colby Jack with gusto. But what shocked me was the fruit. Ane was eating fresh strawberries and unpeeled red grapes with her cheese, doing a “Remy” (from the movie “Ratatouille“) and seeing how the different flavors went together. She ate two whole strawberries and a decent-sized bunch of grapes.

This is the same child who has turned her nose up at fresh strawberry shortcake because she doesn’t “like” strawberries, and has always demanded that her grapes be peeled.

There are still miracles in this world!!!

The hardest part of the evening for her was rule #2 – not touching the presents. I carefully explained that the Bride was a grown-up and would not need help opening her own gifts. When the gift opening started, Ane tugged on my sleeve. “Mommy, does she need help opening her cards?” she asked hopefully. I reassured her that the Bride was very capable of opening up her own cards.

However, I found something for Ane to do – clean up. It all started when a gift was full of styrofoam packing peanuts, and they spilled all over the carpet. “Hey, Ane, I bet you can be a big helper and clean up,” I suggested. We dragged a garbage can over and Ane eagerly began helping. After all the packing peanuts were cleaned up, she continued to clear away wrapping and tissue paper at my direction. She did tire of it after about a half hour, but it was good while it lasted.

She ended up right at the Bride’s elbow, checking things out and exclaiming over each item, and when I suggested that she pick up some more paper and help, she ignored me. She’d been enough of a help – thanks, Mom.

Ane admitted later to the Webmaster that “the party was really long,” but she did say that she’d had fun. And she did behave reasonably well, until the very end when she was overtired but not wanting to leave, and all consideration for the rules had gone out the window – hey, she’d gotten her treats. I finally told her that she had two options – either leave nicely, or leave after a spanking.

She went for option #1.

Smart kid.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 2:27 am and is filed under Children, From the Church Front.
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