mr. independent

According to a Super Nanny episode I watched about six months ago, kids should be doing certain things, including wiping their own bum, by the time they are three to four years old. I panicked, Carter was almost 4 1/2 and I was still doing that. But, Marc talked me off the ledge--if that's the worst we're doing as parents, (not letting him wipe his own bum, I mean) we're doing pretty darn good. (I'm sure that's not the worst we're doing but at some point you just have to believe in yourself or at least pretend to.)

Then all of a sudden, it happened. One day, out of the blue, he told me he'd wipe his own bum. I haven't wiped it since. Well, except for yesterday when he was truly a mess. Believe me. I found remnants on the shirt he wore yesterday when I was sorting laundry 30 minutes ago. Gross.

Carter has developed quite a bit of independence in the past few months. He buttons his own buttons. He changes his clothes. He'll even pick them out all by himself if I'm busy. When we were in Idaho for Christmas and Marc and I were gone to a wedding, he picked his pajamas out of the dirty clothes pile that he really shouldn't have worn since he'd peed in them the night before. He zips his own zippers. He opens his own car door. (which is marvelous since I'm practically the only one around here that doesn't have a van with automated doors!) He buckles his own seat belt. Undoubtedly, he's not a baby anymore. He hasn't been for quite a while, but he's also been a little slow to develop independence. It's a good thing he's been blossoming quite a bit lately because tomorrow I register him for kindergarten.