I AM trustworthy!

I use the words "trustworthy" and "responsible" quite often when explaining to Caedmon the type of behavior I'd like for him to exhibit. Those may seem like big words to use with a not-quite-3-year-old, but let me assure you he fully understands what they mean.

The other day Caedmon was trying to convince me to let him drink out of a cup without a lid. I hardly ever let Caedmon do this because he is currently in a phase where he loves to dump everything out. If someone makes the mistake of leaving a cup of water, or a half-drunk soda can, or a bottle of gaterade around our house, Caedmon WILL find it and he WILL dump it out. To him the thrill of dumping it out must offset the discomfort of the spanking he receives, because he continues to do it over and over again.

But, back to Caedmon trying to convince me to let him have a "big boy cup"...He said, "Mommy, I AM trustworthy. I use two hands."

Hmmm...always wanting to believe the best, I said "OK" and handed him the cup of water. As I handed it to him I added, "But I want you to stay in the kitchen with it. Don't go out in the living room."

Well, Caedmon didn't like that at all and momentarily lost his mind and all self-control as he chucked the cup full of water across the kitchen. How's that for trustworthy behavior?!

One more story about building (or in our case losing!) trust...

Caedmon no longer wants assistance in using the potty. He's quite adament that I stay clear of the bathroom while he's in there. (Hey, that makes me think maybe I could start being adament that HE stays clear of the bathroom while I'M in there!) So, I want to encourage that autonomy and independence that he's developing, but when your trustworthy meter constantly reads red, it's difficult to ever take your eyes off of him.

The other day he was supposedly going to the potty. But when I went in to check on him I realized that he had just eaten an entire tube of toothpaste! (I guess there are worse things he could eat in the bathroom.) Luckily it was the kids' floride free kind so it's not dangerous to swallow, but it was literally an entire tube as I had just put it in there two days prior. So, for now, we are just brushing Caedmon's teeth with water while we talk about trustworthy behavior!

How many two year olds do you know scream full volume, "MOMMY, I AM TRUSTWORTHY!!!"