Independence Day

No, it is not July 4th, but to my two year old son it seems everyday is Independence Day! He tells me on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, "No mommy, I want to do it myself!" As I watch him growing up before my eyes I see him needing my assistance with things less and less. My helpless baby is growing up into a big boy! Sometimes this new found independence is hard to deal with. When we are running out the door and he insists that he must be the one to climb into the car and help buckle himself in can add an extra five minutes or more to our already hectic schedules. Or as we are out and about he puts up a fight to let him walk and not ride in the stroller, and he absolutely HAS to open all the doors that we go in and out of. The other night I went into his room to help him get his clothes off for bath time and he told me, "No mommy, I can do it myself...watch!" and with that he preceded to take off his shirt and shorts in no time flat! This new found independence means that he is growing and developing like a perfectly normal two year old little boy. However, to his mommy it means that he doesn't need me as much as he use to. It also means that I need to allow for extra time when we are going places so that he can crawl into his car seat and proudly buckle his top buckle. I need to not feel frustrated when it is 100 degrees outside and he insists on opening the door. I need to remember that this is good for his body and pushing the door open is heavy work allowing him to build his muscles. I need to take the time to let him help me water the flowers, in fact I need to be more like him and stop and smell them each time I walk by. There are many days that I feel like he teaches me more than I teach him. In the hustle and bustle of life I find myself realizing that instead of worrying about silly things I need to stop and pay careful attention to the things in life that go by so fast. It seems like only yesterday that he was Ella's age. The past 2 and a half years have gone by in the blink of an eye. I can't get those moments back. However, what I can do is make sure that I soak every moment of him in. So tonight when he asks me to carry him up the stairs when I know he can walk, or to read him an extra story after he has already had 5, or to rock him just a little longer even though I know it is a bedtime stall tactic I am going to do it. Because before you know it he will declare another Independence Day on me and not want me to rock him or read to him or carry him up the stairs because he can do it all by himself.