Moodle's First Act of Kindness - Age 21 months

It isn't that Moodle isn't kind. She's just a toddler. And she does do kind things, like give kisses and hugs and share her toys. But today, she designed and executed her first act of kindness. And it was wonderful.

She was up early with a cold, and fussed through breakfast preparations. Daddy had returned from a trip late the night before. Once she had calmed down to eat her breakfast (cold cereal and warm decaf milk-tea), I let her know that Daddy was home, and sleeping in our room. We talked about this for a little while, and she seemed happy at the prospect of getting to see him after she had finished eating.

We both finished our cereal and tea, I got her down from her chair, and I took the breakfast dishes into the kitchen. As I finished, she asked to be picked up, and started exploring a cabinet. I told her this is where we keep the dishes, and she asked for a bowl. A Daddy bowl. I didn't know what that meant, but I handed her a small plastic bowl that Daddy sometimes uses for ice cream. She laughed the little laugh that means that she had successfully communicated her wants, and had received them.

Then she asked for cereal. Confused, I told her she had just eaten cereal, and didn't need any more. Daddy cereal, she explained. Daddy doesn't eat cereal normally, so I was still confused. But I got down the Cheerios. Once again, happy laugh.

And then the toddler babble revealed that she knew Daddy was asleep, and she wanted to take him a bowl of cereal when she went in to say good morning. We go in to say good morning to Daddy every morning, and I guess she had missed it while he was away. It was clear she wanted to make it special today.

We put a few handfuls of cereal in the bowl, and she carefully walked back to our bedroom, and screamed "DADDY!". She was barely tall enough to put the bowl on the bed before I lifted her up to snuggle with Daddy. She presented him with his bowl, and I explained what had happened to a confused and groggy husband.

There were some spilled Cheerios. That's what DustBusters are for.