Dancing on the Edge

"Do MySELF!"

Have I mentioned that I have a wildly independent daughter? It seems that I am no longer allowed to do anything for her. Or for myself, for that matter. Everywhere I turn it's "DO MYSELF!" (yelled, with waaay too much emphasis on the "self" part. It sounds more like "do my SELF!!!"

This covers the routine toddler stuff like dressing herself, brushing her teeth, washing her hair, etc. but it also covers chores that I am attempting to accomplish in the least amount of time.

Take a few minutes ago for example: I just needed to feed the dogs. It would have taken me no less than 30 seconds do this chore but as soon as I opened the dog food cabinet I heard "Me feed Jor-ny and Jaxon." (She called Jordan "Jorny" and I find it just too darn cute. Lately, I call Jordan that as well. :) ) She came running at break-neck speed from the living room. I sighed and handed her the scoop.

Feeding the dogs for me is easy. I know that Jaxon gets the Premium dog food from her bin and that Jordan gets the very expensive prescription dog food from his bin. Kaylen, too, knows which bin is for which dog but she has trouble filling the measuring scoop all the way three times in a row for each bowl so a job that would take me 30 seconds from start to finish takes much longer. But...even in my desire to rush through chores as quickly as I can to get to something a bit more fun and exciting I have to admit that it's fun to watch her fill the bowls and oh-so-carefully and carry Jordan's to his rug. The look of self satisfaction on her face makes all those extra minutes worth it.