independence

Independence Day is coming up, but there's a different sort of independence being displayed in our house this week. Celia has started getting upset and refusing to let me give her things or do things for her. It took a while to figure out that it isn't because she's refusing to do what I want her to; She just wants to do everything herself! She refuses food from me, but if I give her the whole container and fork or spoon she eats it all up. She runs away when I try to put her shoes on, and I find her a minute later sitting all alone trying to put them on by herself. She thinks she can do things that she clearly isn't able to do, like walk up and down stairs and dive off the end of the couch by herself.

Now that I've figured this out, I just give her the bowl and spoon, let her hold the yogurt container, or let her carry her snack across the kitchen all by herself. If she makes a mess and barely gets anything in her mouth, so be it. She will learn, and she will also resort to any means necessary to get herself fed if she's really hungry. This all makes her very, very happy.

She really is quite the little monkey.