More Matthew tricks...

Maybe we should take a trip to New York to appear on Letterman's "Stupid Human Tricks". I have fun teaching Matthew new tricks. I've already told about the "Impressive" deal, but here is one that is actually useful.

When walking in a parking lot, we always make sure to hold Matthew's hand to keep him from getting squashed by cars. That's fine and good, but what to do when you get to your car? I generally have one hand holding a pile of stuff, and the other holding his hand. I need one of those hands to get the keys out of my pocket and open the door. Purely by accident, we came up with this little trick. In order to keep him from running away, I started telling Matthew to put his hands on the side of the truck. One day, it hit me that I basically had him doing what cops have criminals do. Well, it took a little training, but now we have it down 100% of the time. When we get to the truck, I stop and say "Assume the position", and faces the rear fender and puts both hands on the truck until I tell him to get in the truck.

I know, it's terrible, but if he grows up to be a criminal, at least he'll know what to do. I must say, I do get some funny looks when I pick him up at daycare. Those people are probably beginning to think I'm nuts. Shelly tells me they are probably right.