mr. independent.

a friend who struggled with a strong-willed child once told me she'd read a book that strong willed children grow up to be independent, self-sufficient leaders. well, i hope that's true. because i have a very strong-willed little man on my hands.

i was in one of those out of control moods this morning prompted by the fact that everywhere i looked there was a pile of junk waiting to be cleaned, organized, put away, dusted, mopped, etc. when i started to feel the familiar rise of panic and brink of mom-meltdown consuming me, i put my shoes on and got jack dressed to go on a nice, long walk. mr. independent went to the front closet, grabbed his "SHOE! SHOE!" and proceeded to put them on himself. he didn't want me to help him, so it took a little longer than expected, but we were on our way.

halfway through our walk, he started yelling and pointing. "DOWN, DOWN!" so i let him out of his stroller, and he pushed it back home. it was a very slow second half, but who could resist his squeals of delight at his own success? he was so proud when we FINALLY made it back to our house.

at lunch, he insisted on feeding himself his yogurt with a spoon. "ME! ME!" nevermind that a lot of it most of it ended up on the sides of his highchair and on the front of his shirt, he wanted to do it himself.

i would say that it's annoying to have to wait for a 15 month old when we have deadlines, and to-do lists and mile long weekend agendas to complete, but that wouldn't be true. i love watching jack learn things, and i love the little smile he gets when he's doing it for himself. if it takes us longer to get where we're going, i try to think of it as a built-in reminder to take the time to appreciate all these sweet moments that pass me by too quickly.

happy superbowl sunday!