Willy dropped the lils at daycare this AM and had a chat with N*, our daycare provider. He was telling her how great it was that Woo got himself changed and brushed his teeth while Goose was being put down. He did it without being asked, we were both pretty proud! She gave him a funny look and told him that Woo was responsible for solo dressing/changing at her place, and had been FOR MONTHS! It got me wondering just how many things he has been doing at her place that he refuses to do here.

I think that the list will be pretty long actually. Off the top of my head:

• He NAPS at N’s house, EVERY day. We only get naps if we run him to the point of exhaustion, completely over stimulate him, and have him in the car with music on.
• He eats mushrooms at her house. Mushrooms are the one and only food that we will let him pick out of what ever we are eat, as he has consistently refused to eat them, for pretty much his entire life. As he picked them out of his pasta one night recently, he casually told me that he “likes mushrooms, just not at home”.
• He listens to N, all the time, and answers properly and politely. We are lucky if we get an occasional acknowledgment that we exist some days. He remembers his pleases and thank yous most days, but there are some days that they “sleep in” and we have to go looking for them.
• On the very rare times that he misbehaves (and it is generally for beating on his sister – some things don’t change), he just goes and serves his time out. No fuss or muss or tantrum to end the world.
• “Clean-up, clean-up, everybody clean-up…” not only does he sing the song, he does the actions too. We consider it a victory if Woo doesn’t add to the mess while we are cleaning, and occasionally tosses a toy or two in the bins.

I could go on, but it is pretty clear that we have been duped by the three year old. Now we have to fix it. I don’t think it is going to be easy.

UPDATE – he freakin’ listens at gymnastics too, for the record.

*I’ll have to come up with a clever nickname for her, but all I can come up with right now is the super awesome wonderful woman who loves our lil peeps three days a week, and that is just too long.