Miss Manners

Rachel is turning into a very polite young lady. A sampling:

--Before every meal, she asks, "can I start?" We always say yes and thank her profusely for asking.

--She says "thank you" a lot. "Thank you for making dinner, Mommy! Thank you for patting me!" Thank you! Thank you!" We always say a cheerful, "you're welcome!"

--She helps a lot. Tonight I came home and she was peeling garlic. All by herself! Drew was preparing a summer dish of basil and cherry tomatoes with spaghetti, olive oil and garlic, and it was so cute to see her standing on her little red plastic chair and peeling the garlic. My little sous chef!

--She calls attention to herself when she's NOT fussing or crying in situations we expect her to. "Look, Daddy, I not fussing or crying!" she says. We always acknowledge that and tell her how proud we are of her.

--If I'm wearing a particularly snazzy outfit, Drew will say in front of Rachel, "Look how pretty Mommy looks!" And Rachel will respond right away: "You look wery pretty, Mommy!" Sometimes she'll even do it on her own. Her compliments are the absolute best ever.