It seems that there is a new theme in our house; a theme that has become more & more apparent every. This theme is independence! I started noticing it a few weeks ago when we were getting ready to leave the house & I told the twins to "go get their shoes." Instead of bringing me their shoes & fighting for 10 minutes over whose shoes I should put on 1st, they both sat down & put their shoes on all by themselves. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I was very relieved to have avoided the whole "me 1st" fight.
A few days later, while we were going through the very difficult routine of brushing teeth & getting dressed when Molly protested & told me that she would pick out her own outfit. 35 minutes later she had on Ben's jeans and an ugly sweater. The thing that surprised me most is that when I tried to help her put the jeans on, she told me "I can do it myself, go away Mommy!" I went away, & she did it herself (kind of...)
Last week, Molly started taking off her diaper and tossing it on the ground whenever it was wet. A couple of days after that, she started taking the diaper off, running upstairs, & putting on underpants. Two days ago I heard her flush the toiled & proclaim "I went potty, like a big girl!" Then, last night Ben told me that he couldn't sleep until he went potty. We went into the bathroom & when I tried to help him take his pants off he pushed me away & yelled "no, I do it myself, Mommy!" He went potty, flushed, and washed his little hands all by himself (well, I had to turn the water on).
It isn't like we haven't tried potty training; we have tried more than once without success! The 1st time we tried Molly peed on me 3 times, and Ben stood right next to me and peed on my brand new Ugg boots! Our next 4 attempts were no better, so we finally just gave up & decided that they weren't ready yet. I mean seriously, how much pee can one mommy clean up & those pull-ups cost a small fortune....
When I got home from work today both kids ran into the bathroom & started taking off their pants & fighting over the "big kid potty." When I walked in to break up the fight, they told me to go away. I stood outside the bathroom door for 30 minutes while they took turns "going potty" & flushing the toiled. An entire roll of toilet paper later I decided it was time to do something different. I went in and told them that it was time to wash their hands. They said okay & I turned on the water & was once again told to "go away!"
It wasn't until later on tonight when they put their own toothpaste on their toothbrushes & put their own jammies on that I started to realize that I am actually being rejected! My babies are growing up & they don't need me to do everything for them anymore. While I am proud of the fact that they are growing up & wanting to do more for themselves, I have to admit that will I miss the baby days of feeding them, changing their clothes, & constantly feeling needed......
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| June 7, 2009 - they were safe & sound on the inside |
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| Late June, 2009 - still in the NICU |
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| Already starting to get big; Molly is holding her own bottle! |
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| 2010 in Turks & Caikos - Sitting all by themselves... |
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I'm a big girl now!
March, 2012! |
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I can skate by myself; go away!
March, 2012! |
This post made me teary eyed! I miss those baby days too... and they're growing up so much faster now that I moved away. Remember when we had Ben crawling around the house with that octopus toy in his mouth? bahahaaha Or when we were trying to video Molly crawling for the first time and she kept farting?
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