Eric is always a good helper. He almost always wants to help. After dinner, he helps me clear off the table. On Saturday mornings, he sets the table before breakfast (pancakes of course). Most nights, he can’t wait to get a beer out of the fridge to put in front of my place at the dinner table. Sometimes Mommy has to put it back in the fridge, so it won’t be warm by the time we actually sit down to dinner. Any time I have a project to do around the house, he likes to help. He holds my screwdriver, wrench or hammer; or he holds his clipboard and pretends to take notes for me. His favorite job is to help me measure. He even has his own tape measure that Grandpa D. gave him after Christmas. The tape measure belonged to Eric’s Great-Grandpa D. It is small – just Eric’s size.
I have been working on our new camper this last week. It had some maintenance problems that needed attention. Eric was so excited to be outside while I was working. On Friday evening, Eric and Mommy came outside to help me. Eric was in charge of dispensing bolts when requested. He also helped Mommy hold the light for me, since it got dark before I finished. I really appreciated all of the help from Eric and Mommy. It was also raining off and on, so I was grateful to be able to finish sooner with the help. On Saturday morning, I continued working. Eric played in the yard and periodically checked on me to see if I needed any help. He asked lots of questions about what I was doing. Finally, I was finished, except one last task. Eric came up to the garage with me to get the necessary tools: screwdriver…check, adjustable wrench…check, another screwdriver…check. We were going to remove the old license plate from the back of the camper. Eric’s job was to carry the screwdriver and wrench out to the trailer and hold them until needed. He did very well. He learned the difference between a screwdriver and a wrench. I think Handy Manny had a little to do with this lesson.
After the repairs were complete and the license plate removed, we were ready to open the camper. This is Eric’s favorite part. The first time we opened it last weekend, he could hardly wait until it was okay to go inside. There was no difference this time. As soon as he got the okay to go inside, he was in there. He helped me clean out the cabinets. He was in charge of tossing things in the trash can just outside the door. He was very disappointed whenever I took something out of the cabinet and decided not to throw it away. Today, we closed it back up. Storms are forecast for tonight, and we will not be cleaning it during the week, so we thought it better to close it up. Besides, we need to get some practice setting up and taking down before we go on our first camping trip. Eric was sad to see the camper packed down, but we reassured him that it would be up again soon.