One down ? to go...

Last week was a bit tough here at the Lushlife household. I was sick with the flu and finished off the end of my week with tonsilitis. Four whole days of work off if only I had actually achieved something.

I barely managed to keep up with the washing, had very little interaction with Gabriella who probably stayed well because I steered clear of her. After Wednesday I also had to care for Elliot after he came home sick on Tuesday evening with an ear infection and stayed that way till the weekend.

During my time home with Elliot on Wednesday he asked me while I was in the middle of using the computer (i.e. checking out blogs) to bring him an orange. I obliged without comment and Elliot pointed out to me how politely he had asked. I replied that I was very proud of his use of manners particularly since I had recently received some good reports about what a well mannered boy he is. I asked him if he noticed how it was never a problem for him to have something if he used his manners and that our constantly reminding him to use his manners had finally resulted in him remembering them.

He said that he noticed that other people really liked him using his manners and that they (the manners) seemed to just come out of his mouth. I said that it meant that using his manners had finally become a habit and he no longer had to think about having to use them.

I felt such huge relief when I heard him say that the manners kept falling out of his mouth, it was like all our efforts day in and day out for the last 5 years (I don't count the first year) to "Use your manners", "Where are you manners?" and each and every time we had refused him something because of a failure to use his manners, had finally been vindicated.

It is the first time since I became a parent I have ever felt that due to my direct influence Elliot had reached and passed a milestone and one that wasn't related to a physical or intellectual aspect of life but a social mile stone had finally been reached and that even he recognised the value of obtaining that milestone too.

So while I didn't achieve much last week during my week home sick, it was certainly a glorious revelation to learn that P and I had achieved something as significant (to us) as our son having developed a habit of using his manners and that maybe we can relax a little about this aspect of his development and concentrate on some others like how to be a good winner and loser. That one is bound to take a few more years!