Full

At the rate our kids ask (or is it order?) us to do things, you'd think by now parents would have grown more than one pair of hands. Now that we have two kids at home, my hubby and I usually find our hands full with things like bottles, dirty diapers, and storybooks.

With Ali around, my husband and I have also tried to spend more time with Adi. It has happened though that Adi really has to wait a bit before he can get what he wants from us. Recently, when he requests something from his dad and his daddy has to take care of some things first, Manuel would say: "What do you see Adi?" and the script of question and answer goes on till Adi realizes that daddy has his hands "full."

I saw this exchange to be such an effective technique that I decided to copy it a few days after.

Yesterday, while doing some painting, I requested Adi to paint me a house. Without looking up to see what he was doing I heard him say: "What do you see, Mommy?" As I stopped painting to really look at him, I realized he had both hands occupied as he mixed different colors to make the shade he wanted. I then said: "You have your hands full..." Then, Adi smiled and I laughed.

So parents, be extra careful. Do the right thing and choose your words carefully. There's a walking and breathing mirror around...