A Couple Fun Stories

The first of these stories happened this morning. Rudy and I were coming in to "wake up" Jason. (Jason waits in bed for us to get him, 'cause Rudy takes such delight in finding him.) When Jason stirred, an ugly hairy spider went scurrying up the wall. In the best non-alarmed voice I could muster under the circumstances, I sang, "Jason, there's a bug crawling up the wall." (Rudy is often touchy when he first wakes up, and I didn't want to trigger a melt down by having him clue into the fact that I was alarmed. He's quite a suggestible kid when it comes to emotions.) Anyway, Jason went after the beast and eventually nailed it under a scratch piece of paper. When the spider did not appear out from under the paper, Rudy, with arms in the classic query pose, shouted, "Where? Where? Where?"
Oops. I hadn't thought about what he would think of witnessing his first murder. Up to this point in his little life, we have always made a big deal out of being gentle, kind, and respectful to all living things. Jason's actions absolutely flabbergasted him. Luckily, he didn't see the spider's broken body, so we just told him the spider needed to go bye bye, and we all waved good bye as Jason gently set the paper with the spider "hiding" inside it into the trash. It was about an hour before Rudy stopped intermittently asking "Where?" Oh well. Rest in peace, you hairy beast you.
The other story happened yesterday.
We have come to realize that in all our safety training of Rudy, we have omitted a rather large skill-coming when we call. (Yes, I know it sounds like I'm training a dog.) I haven't really thought of teaching him this skill, because up until a couple days ago, I've been content to follow him around like a shadow. For whatever reason, I am no longer happy to do so. Anyway, Rudy's not keyed into the idea at all, so the last few days I've been doing little training sessions with him, where I call for him, and if he comes I make a big deal out of it, and if he doesn't he has to sit in my lap for a minute or so. Thus far, I've not noticed any significant progress, but whatever-it'll come, I'm sure. Yesterday, during one such training session, Rudy stopped, when I called, but did not turn around to come back. Breaking down my expectations for him, I told him "Turn around." He looked over his shoulder at me with a look that seemed to say, "Are you serious?"
"Turn around, Rudy," I said more firmly, at which point Rudy turned around and continued walking in his previous course, just backwards. I really think he was trying to please me by following my instructions, not being sassy. He looked at me like, "Ok, Mama, whatever floats your boat!" It was hilarious, and it reminded me that I need to be clear in my expectations and instructions, so Rudy will at least have a shot at success. :)