The Generous Toddler

Over the last week or two Asher has developed the idea that it's good to share. This means that now he will smear his cheesy crackers over the face of any doll, stuffed animal or small plastic farm animal in his vicinity in an attempt to share his snack. Yesterday at a kid-friendly Christmas party we went to he tipped his cup of water over an unsuspecting baby-doll in an attempt to share and last week at the park when I offered him a sandwich he clearly wanted one for his little mate Miles as well. He had to chase Miles across the park but finally he handed over the sandwich and Miles, bless his 17 month old heart, clearly said 'ta' and they sat down in the grass together and ate the grotty little handfuls of sandwich. It's really, really cute but I also feel like it's a new developmental stage. To be honest I'm not really sure if he's starting to understand that other people have feelings or whether that kind of behaviour just gets him plenty of positive attention but either way it's incredibly endearing. I wonder if it's enough to make up for his panchant for grabbing handfuls of soil out of our pot plants and dumping it on the terrace so he can get the broom and attempt to sweep it up?