Schooled

This morning, Noah was irritating the mess out of Anna with his bear, Calvin, and in the process, irritating the mess out of me. It was early yet (6:30 am) and I was not awake enough to have the energy for scolding or explaining what I have explained to him a million times before. So I snatched up the bear and plopped (probably more like - shoved) it back into Noah's lap - a silent sort of "STOP IT!!" gesture, if you will.

Noah's red flags went up, but not for the reason I had hoped - that being his needing to STOP IT. No, he was alert to the fact that I had not been gentle. This he knows because he gets schooled on gentleness every day (being gentle with his sister, in particular). So when he caught me not being gentle, he took it upon himself to remind me what gentle is. You'll notice he knows this corrective script by heart and was confident in his delivery.

Here's how it went. Btw, "genter"=gentle:

Me, impatiently shoving that bear into his lap to send a message
Noah, pauses and then proceeds: Mommy, do genter.
Me, at a crossroad - correct impudence or model teachability?
Noah, cautiously hands it to me: Twy again, Mommy. Genter.
Me, guilty, I know, so I humbly and gently hand it back to him
Noah: Tank you. Dat's bed-der.