July 11, 2008

My little girl is exercising her independence. Now, if you are like me, I’m thinking, who does she think she is? Let’s face it, she is 16 months old and still can’t get a real job, drive a car or use the potty by herself, but yes, she feels it is time to exercise her “independence”. I guess I should be a bit clearer here, try to make a bit more sense of this for you. Elyssa has entered the stage of “I can do it myself” even if I can’t tell you what it is I want to do! She has started throwing little “fits / tantrums” when she wants to walk on her own and mommy or daddy insist it is better that we carry her. She has started throwing herself out of your arms, or should I say attempting to throw herself out of our arms as we juggle to keep her where she belongs. She has decided that her car seat, is evil and that she must strain and arch her back so that we have to fight to get her in, even though when she is in it she gets to go “bye-byes” and that she loves! She has learned how to stand up in a shopping cart, even though we like good parents, have her strapped in. She knows just how to “smoosh” her feet and legs up and squirm so that the seat in no obstacle at all. The same holds true for highchairs at restaurants, we strap her in and adjust it to the best of our ability and she, just like Houdini manages to get out of it and stand up in the chair. Life with Elyssa just keeps changing. She certainly keeps me on my toes, if nothing else! I know this independence stage is normal and is only going to get worse as she gets older, but it is so hard to watch her struggle with spreading her wings while mommy and daddy say NO! She even has what we have labeled “Snooty face”, where she crinkles up her little lips and looks at you all mad and angry. To be honest we can’t help but laugh at her when she does it. She is just so darn cute.

She is also learning so much, everyday I think she learns something new or gets better at doing something. I show her how put the shapes in her shape sorter container and she does it right after me. She will sit and stack her rings on her ring stacker over and over again, just amazed that they all fit. She will pick up the blocks and stack them up and of course knock them over again and again, giggling the whole time. It is so much fun watching her and playing with her. She loves to take her bath, and will play as long as I let her. In fact when I say it is time to get out she will shake her head and say “no, no, no”. She definitely knows what you are saying. I can tell her to go get Pooh Bear, a ball, her shoes, her sissy cup, or just about anything and she will go get it and bring it to me. If she finds anything on the floor that she should not have, she brings it to me to show me. Well even though she is gaining more and more independence every day, she is still my baby and I can still blow on her belly or tickle her toes and she will just giggle and laugh, and giggle some more. She loves her daddy, but I still think she is mommy’s little girl.