It’s the day after Thanksgiving and it is just myself and Lincoln. Everyone else is out and about.   It is nice to have a day home with just the baby.

Lincoln is almost 21 months and so much fun to be around. We try so hard to be positive, but we don’t always succeed as we would like 100% of the time.

I always knew how important it was to be proud of your children and make sure they know how proud you are, but to see it work at such a young age was just awesome.

I was on the couch folding laundry and I heard Lincoln making sounds. He was “reading” his farm animal book. As he turned each page he made the sounds of the animals or farm equipment. I sat with him and watched. As he got to the last page, I picked him up, gave him hugs and kisses and told him how proud I was of him. And he started all over. I mimicked my previous response when he finished. He was so pleased at the response that he would start at the end, do the last page only and jump into my arms for me to hug him, kiss him and tell him how proud I was of him. Going to the last page and receiving the same response happened over and over again for about ten times.

What a wonderful gift we have as parent to give our children a sense of pride in themselves. May we all use it a little more often and help our children stirve to be all they were meant to be.