Earning His Keep

Obed has decided now that he is one, he should start earning his keep in the Black house. So, in the last two days that we've had beautiful weather, Obed has worked very hard to make sure he is contributing to family chores. For instance, he decided that working in the garden was a good way to help out. He particularly liked moving dirt from the garden to the wagon... back to the garden... to the wagon... into his mouth... oh wait, he didn't like the part where he tried to taste the dirt. The boy loves to play in the dirt. I need to talk with him, however, and teach him that a more helpful chore would be learning to do his laundry after he plays in the dirt.
He also thought he'd help out around the yard. The rake was a little hard to maneuver for his untrained hands, so the toddler sized snow shovel was a good option. Although he didn't have much success with actually picking up any leaves, he greatly enjoyed sliding the snow shovel back and forth over the leaves, stopping to occasionally taste a leaf or the snow shovel handle - both of which, he decided, were not as tasty as say, applesauce.