Intoxicating Independence

DS woke at the ungodly hour of 6:15 this morning, and despite my attempts to coax him back to sleep he insisted that he was ready for the day, as announced by a large SPLAT that necessitated turning on the light, gathering diaper supplies, etc...by which time, he was thoroughly awake and so was I. *sigh* I got myself a cup of coffee and toted him out to the front room where he proceeded to happily entertain himself for 45 minutes before conking out again in the swing, just in time for his sister to wake up--which means a day of them being off-sync from each other looms. Oh joy.

But during that scoot-around time this morning, I enjoyed watching DS enjoy his new independence. He doesn't have forward motion down completely yet, but he has worked out his own system with sitting up and pushing himself up onto his toes, sort of leveraging himself forward. It's quite ingenious really...I'm betting it will delay the onset of "true" crawling because he seems quite content with his own style of forward movement. Watching him, it's like the whole world has opened up for his tactile discovery and enjoyment. It's so darn cute! He is delighted with himself for getting underneath the coffee table, and now that is his favorite place to play with whatever toy has captivated his attention. This morning it was the wipes container, and he spent a merry five minutes using it like a drum and pushing it around. You can almost see the thoughts and wheels turning in his head--hey, this is fun!

DD has her own brand of intoxicating independence moments. Lately it has been being able to put on her socks and underwear by herself, thank you very much! She is also intrigued with hand washing and indeed I have to be quite firm about the number of times and frequency of hand washing. (Tip for those who aren't there yet--the foam hand soaps are much, MUCH easier for beginning hand washers, and you don't have a huge puddle of soap to clean up or attempt to wash off their tiny hands either.) She also has to put on her own shoes and socks. Next is picking out her own clothes, I know, although for now the 'give her two options and let her pick' strategy is working.

I realize the whole goal of parenting is to encourage independence, so that eventually they don't need you any more and are ready to handle things by themselves. Nonetheless, it's quite fascinating, heartwarming, and a bit heartstring-tugging to see your children asserting their independence and mastery of new skills. Sort of a reminder that I'm working myself out of a job...which is entirely as it should be. *sniff*