Manners

After every meal at the kids' table, I tell them to ask to be excused and to bring their plates to the kitchen counter. They're still short so I have to watch them walk over and not over-tilt their plates onto the counter. Ronin and Audrey often ask to be excused while they are in mid-flight toward the living room. Other times they forget entirely and I am shouting at them to ask for their release.

I never required this behavior of Nikko. At least not right away. I showed him how to bring his plate to the counter and many times he'd be distracted and race off. His version of wanting to leave the table was either to leave, or to say, "All finished."

On one of the Signing Time DVDs they teach you how to sign "May I be excused?" Nikko used to laugh when seeing/hearing that phrase. This morning he used it very appropriately, as I have seen glimpses of this use over the past month.

He looked up at me from his listening headphones (music therapy every morning) and said, "All finished." I came over to remove his headphones. He said, "May I be excused?" and took his plate to the counter. I said he could go and he happily trotted off. I was beaming. Looked like normal behavior to me. ;)