Little Helping Hands

Back in December I did a post that had this picture in it:

That is my little Chloe Jo helping me dust. Yes, she is dusting a door which I normally don't do (am I supposed to?), but she is helping none the less. Since then, I have let her help me do many different things around the house and she loves it! And I love it!

She is very good about cleaning up her room whenever I tell her to. The only time I ever have a problem with her not doing it is when it is time to go to bed and I've let her stay up too late. She can go into major meltdown mode sometimes. She always puts everything back in the right places, too. Ya know, certain things go into each bin on her shelf, certain things go into her toy box and then certain other things go into the bottom drawer of her dresser. I made it a little complicated which is why I'm so impressed.

Every morning, she helps me make the beds. She tries really hard to help me put the sheets and blankets on the bed, but isn't quite tall enough/strong enough/coordinated enough to do that, but she always hands me the pillows.

One of her favorite things is helping me empty the trash. She loves to go into the bathroom and get the small trash can out of there and bring it to me in the kitchen. I don't even have to ask her to do that! If she sees me get the trash can by the desk, she automatically gets the trash out of the bathroom.

She also loves to help me do laundry. One day I was getting the washer ready to put a load in and here comes Chloe Jo (again without being asked) with the pile of whites that was in my bedroom. I guess she watches me very closely when I do laundry because there were three piles of it in my room and she brought all of the whites and none of the colors or jeans. She is a smart little miss thang.

When the laundry is finished in the dryer, she loves to help me get it out and put it in the laundry basket and then she loves to "help" me fold and put everything away. This is partly frustrating for me because her folding is really more like wadding and when she picks the clothes up to put them away, they always come unfolded or partly unfolded. But, I never scold her because she is trying oh-so-hard to help me.

In January she started helping me set the table for dinner.

I am pretty OCD when it comes to setting the table. I want the knife (with blade pointing toward the plate) on the left side of the plate with the spoon beside it and the fork on the right side of the plate on top of the napkin. Chloe Jo is following in my OCD footsteps and puts everything in the right places (though not nearly as neatly as I do it)! And, um, just ignore the sewing machine. That is it's new home. We just don't have a lot of space. Oh, and ignore the tile. It is totally stained and needs replaced but our landlord will never do it.

About two weeks ago, Chloe Jo also started helping me empty the dishwasher. At first I wasn't so sure about this because dishes are breakable, but I gave her a chance and she really does great with it! I take anything that can hurt her (like knives, blades, etc.) out first and then she can hand me the rest of the dishes to put away. She thinks she is big stuff when she does this!

The Pringles cans are for a project I'm working on for Bible class if you are wondering.

I love how much Chloe Jo loves to help and I'm amazed at how much she can do and does do without being asked. She really is great kid!