Mr. Independent

Rick and I continue to marvel at Palmer's independence.  It's important to us that our child thinks and makes decisions for himself as appropriate for his age.

The latest developments of independence both make me proud and sad.  I'm sad that time is slipping away, but proud that Palmer can stand on his own two feet.

1.  BREAKFAST
We all know Palmer likes to eat.  When Palmer was a baby, he wanted a bottle or sippy cup of milk immediately upon waking in the morning.  At the near age of 3, Palmer has slipped away from milk and moved onto wanting a full breakfast.  As you can imagine, it is slightly inconvenient for Palmer to come into our bedroom when we are just waking and immediately announce, "I'm hungry."  Instead of getting up and answering his call to meal, Rick and I have come up with a few options that Palmer can get on his own! :)

Palmer can now go into the freezer, pick out pancakes/french toast sticks/etc, put them on a plate, microwave them (after a microwave lesson where I caught them cooking for 83 minutes!), get syrup from the pantry, and sit down to eat.  Palmer has tried to bring the pancakes and syrup to our bed a few times, but I think we've nipped that habit in the bud!

2.  NAP TIME
This development makes me a little sad.  Early afternoon, Palmer and I always go upstairs to his room and read a story before he crawls into his bed for nap.  This week, Palmer has told me multiple days at the base of the stairs, "I'll just go ahead and get in my bed, mommy.  I don't need you.  I don't need a story today."  Of course, I raced to the monitor to watch and sure enough, Palmer took his shoes off by his bed, crawled into bed, laid down, and went to sleep.  Tear.

Selfishly, I hoped it was a one day thing, but unfortunately Palmer has asked to go upstairs by himself every day since that first day.  (Sigh.)

I always said I wanted a more independent child before considering a second kid.  I guess I am getting my wish, as bittersweet as it might be...

-Bethany