My children, although often the cause of the distractions and messes around here, are usually good helpers. I expect a lot of help from the older ones, but generally I assume the almost two year old won't be doing much. He's been surprising me lately though.

He feeds the dog (you do have to stop him before the dog gets overfed and overweight), he likes to help with laundry and turn on the dryer, and he likes to help out with his little sister. (Note, I would never, ever leave an accident prone toddler alone with a baby.) Yesterday though, I was in the kitchen and I had to put the baby down to do something.

My daughter is a big believer in attachment parenting. In fact, she believes she should always be attached to me. When I put her down on the ground, she immediately started squalling. A minute or two later, her littlest big brother came dashing in, holding a pacifier he'd found some place, and stuffed it in her mouth, saying, "Oh no. Baby cry."

And my heart might have just melted into a puddle on the floor.