Thursday, April 23, 2009

Little Miss Independent

Independence...freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others. What every parent wants for their child. Right? I am all about independence. BUT, not at 19 months old! Don't get me wrong... there are some things that I want the 19 month old to do independently: feeding herself is great, picking out her clothes is great, if we could get her to go potty-that would be awesome, but there are just certain things you can't do at 19 months. Buckling your car seat or putting the lid on your sippy cup are just a couple. Cadence now wants to do EVERYTHING herself! I am not kidding when I say everything. She has decided she can now buckle herself in her car seat... she can't! The first couple of times she wanted to do it I would fight with her because I mean come on, it is a safety issue. Now, I have realized if I let her do it and just leave her alone she will eventually ask for help. It is okay if I help her as long as it is on her terms.
Yesterday, she wanted some water. Okay, I'll get you some water. No, she had to get it herself. So, I held her up to the refrigerator so she could push the water button. I then attempted to put the lid on her sippy cup. She threw a fit and wanted to do it herself. I tried to convince her to let me do it, but then decided to just go and get a towel to catch the spill. She turned the cup up to get a drink and of course water poured out of the side. She then had to get more water, but she asked for help with the lid the second time.
She also decided she wanted an orange yesterday. I offered to peel it, but she insisted on doing it herself. I asked her if I could get it started like I do for Lyric. She just held the orange up to her chest and yelled, "NO!" So, I left her alone to peel it.
She took a bite out of the side to get it started and then sat there and peeled the entire orange! I could not believe she peeled the whole thing. Such concentration! Enjoying the fruit of her labor! Later in the day, I walked into the kitchen to find this:We keep a candy bowl on the bottom shelf of the pantry for the girls to get whenever they want. She decided she needed some M&Ms. But, look at the lengths she was willing to go to to get the M&Ms. She went into the bathroom, got the stool and carried it into the kitchen. I got what I needed, will you open it? Yeah, you will let me help you now:-)This morning I was going to heat her up some sausage. She would not let me open the package. She insisted on doing it herself! When she couldn't get it with her fingers she resorted to using her teeth.

Lyric and Story were both pretty independent when they were babies, but I don't think it started this young for them. I guess we will just have to see how Baby Cadence changes with age. If she continues the way she is now all I have to say is--Watch out world!

1 comment:

Mrs. Bailey said...

wow! go baby cadence! it's gotta be something about number 3 . . . kamdyn (though not as independent as cadence) thinks she is going to turn 4 on her b-day just like kenzie . . . she is convinced that she can do everything the big girls can . . . it shocks me how much she is able to do on her own . . . they are growning up too fast!