Precious Moments.....'Shame, thy name is USELESS!'

Cameron has a lot of 'issues,' mainly of the variety that drive a parent nuts. And, knowing Cameron, that is likely the main reason he employs his different idiosyncratic behaviors.

Intelligent imp that he is, on some days he makes a chimp seem intelligent by comparison.

For example, though he knows how to say a perfectly good prayer without help, and he knows how to tie his shoes quite well, on many days he will feign utter incompetence and have a cute little tantrum as he vociferously demands help for these and other easy tasks.

Yesterday he had a friend over for most of the afternoon, and as we were getting all the kids together to go to Sam's Club, there was Cameron on the floor demanding that we tie his shoes.

Seeing his friend there, I tried to utilize peer pressure (i.e., shame him) to get him to tie his shoes. 'Cameron, I'll bet your friend ______ knows how to tie his shoes. Maybe he can show you!'

Cameron's hands didn't make even the slightest move towards his laces.

But his friend--one of the nicest kids you will ever meet--enthusiastically responded to my suggestion. He crouched down and kindly tied one of Cameron's shoes, doing each step slowly so that Cameron could learn it. As he finished, he said encouragingly, 'There! Now you try to tie the other shoe!' As Cameron slowly did each step (which he could do in his sleep if he had wanted to), his friend continuously lathered him with generous praise, and when Cameron had successfully completed the operation, gushed, 'You did great, Cameron!'

Cameron's friend surely did a good deed that day, and must've felt 10 feet tall.

As for us, as Cindy commented later, 'I wish we had gotten that on video! We could've had decades of laughs at Cameron's expense!'