My 20-month old boy really likes to help (or hep! As he says it). He notices things that I do and imitates or tries to help me with them. I give him small jobs like unloading the silverware or carrying in small groceries.

Now, he has made himself the Poo Monitor. He has kindly taken it upon himself to point out each dog poop on our lawn as I come, shovel in hand, to scoop them up.
Sometimes I’m doing something else and don’t want to pick it up RIGHT NOW, but he insists, with his cry “a poo! A poo!” He will actually take my hand (or Josh’s) and pull us to the side of the house where the shovel sits and then back to the offending feces, saying “a poo!” the whole time until it is picked up and gone. He will also exclaim “yuck!” I don’t think he finds it disgusting at all; I really think he just likes helping.

The other day he was standing over a poop doing this exact thing when the sprinklers came on. He stopped yelling about the poop and looked at me, the sprinklers, the water, his pajamas, and back to me. He was blinking hard and getting absolutely soaked. I stood just out of reach of the water and said “baby, come here! Come to me! Out of the water!” He was too stunned to react for a few moments, and then finally began to walk off the lawn. 

His enthusiasm for pointing out poop, and the lawn in general, has not been diminished.