Jaw Dropping!

Our rule for our NYC neighborhood: You must hold hands when crossing the street, but once we cross...you can walk closely without holding hands. As we crossed in front of a diner, Sophie got a bit ahead of us, a man was running across the sidewalk toward the diner, and Eric calmly said,"Sophie, slow down please.". She stopped on a dime. The man turned around and had to scoop his jaw off of the sidewalk. He stammered..."she stopped. I can't believe that.". He pointed at Sophie in disbelief, as if she were a UFO, then smiled and turned back to the diner. Eric and I congratulated ourselves on awesome parenting and commended Sophie on being an awesome listener. We had no idea that kind of obedience was such a rarity in a 2 year old. Apparently, it is.
This wasn't the first time someone has pointed out Sophie's helpful and obedient nature. When we pick her up from Sunday School, the teachers are extremely complimentary on her participation and clean-up. At Ballet class...the teacher directs the children to sit on the brown beam. Sophie runs to the brown beam and patiently waits while the other children are picked up, poked, and prodded to join her. The other parents and nannies look at us with amazement. And...let's be honest, there are a few that have the look of annoyed contempt. I wanted to help the mom of "I get everything I ask for Suzie." Mom of Suzie carried her upside down and wiggling over to the brown beam saying, "if you don't listen, I'll take you outside.". Suzie didn't listen and Her mom never took her outside. I didn't see how anyone could say anything without just frustrating the mom even more. What I can say is, I believe one reason Soph does so well in class is because in the past, I have pulled her into the hallway to take a break from the fun times in class if she can't follow directions. After following through a few times in that dept., she was following directions and obeying the teacher better than ever.
Let me just say, before it's all said and done. Soph is not perfect and there are many times when my plans are met with protest. We are just doing our best and this is something that works for us.


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