I Can Do It Myself!

CootieBoy has officially entered the phase of toddlerhood wherein he wants to do everything himself. Pour his own cereal (resulting in fruit loops all over the floor), unhook his car seat straps (resulting in me standing there for five minutes while he attempts to unlock a CHILDPROOF harness), brush his teeth (resulting in toothpaste being eaten rather than brushed across teeth), put on his pull-up (resulting in front coverage with pull-up sitting very low on the back end). You name it – he wants to do it himself. No helping. AT ALL. Don’t even VOLUNTEER, adults!!

This morning at daycare (once we finally got my car out of the garage), he refused to let me unbuckle his carseat harness. So I left him there (not to worry – the way our daycare is laid out means I’m never further away than one car length from our car when putting CootieGirl in her class). He just sat there in the car, refusing to move, watching as I got CootieGirl settled. I came back to the car and he stubbornly crossed his arms in front of the harness when I volunteered to help him.

Since I was running late, I muscled in, unlocked the harness and basically had to drag him out of the car because at that point he was mad at me for not letting him do it. Fortunately, the tantrum was short-lived and he proceeded up the steps to his classroom and happily waved from the window as I drove away.