Rudy's Way

A common phrase recently is "Rudy do it". He is truly becoming Mr. Independent. Most days he wants yogurt first thing when he wakes up but he has to do it all himself. Paul and I can't even touch the refrigerator door without being told no. And if we open the door - it gets shut and Rudy starts all over again. In the frig, he always has to pick a yogurt from the back - he never picks the very front one. Then he closes the refrigerator and gets a spoon. Again, we can't open the drawer or even suggest a spoon - it just gets rejected. Lately he's been very attached to these small baby spoons that just spill yogurt everywhere- but of course I never think of it at any other time to hide the spoons. When he gets to his chair, sometimes he will let us help him into it. And he almost always lets us open the yogurt container for him.

He also likes to delegate who does what or who sits where. As we get ready for dinner, he'll point to our chairs and tell us which one is Poppy's and which is Mommy's. And after watching "Elmo Big Bird", he tries to pick who's putting him to bed (this one we don't let him decide - Paul and I have it worked out ahead of time- fortunately he accepts it if we say"no, Mommy's putting you to bed tonight" after he picks Poppy.)

While riding in his buggy around the back yard, he now tells us which direction to pull him. And if we don't go the way he wants, he will put his feet down on the ground a la the Flintstones to stop the buggy until we go the way he wants. It seems like if he can stop it that well, he should be able to propel it himself, doesn't it?!

When Rudy brings a book to one of us, he has two commands "read" or "pictures". If he says "read" we have to read the words in the story and not make any comments about the pictures or stray from the story (he always knows when we do). This is especially hard if it is a picture book and the only words to read are under each picture. I've tried explaining that I am reading and point to the words but usually he ends up moving to another book. If Rudy says "pictures" he wants us to talk about the pictures and point out what we see and ask him questions about them. Sometimes the command changes in the middle of the book.