I Can Do It Myself...

Beth is a wonderfully independent girl, and we love that about her. Now that she is officially 1, she has begun to insist on doing things on her own. Here are a few things that she does:

1. Puts her clothes in the laundry hamper. Every morning when we take off her pajamas, I give them to her and she knows to put them in the laundry hamper. I'm loving this habit and hoping it sticks with her for a long time. However, she does take the clothes back out of the laundry hamper if she can reach them. Also, another downside is that everything else ends up in the laundry hamper as well. I recently washed my keys and am trying to be better at making sure all unapproved items come out before the clothes go in the wash. I still think it is adorable that after she puts something in the hamper she claps for herself.






2. Brushes her teeth. We recently visited my sister in Boise with most of the rest of my family. Beth having no teeth at the time I didn't bother bringing her toothbrush. Then we ran into a problem. Beth's cousins were brushing their teeth and Beth couldn't. My brother Patrick was amazed that a child would throw such a fit over not being able to brush their teeth. But it is a struggle each morning to get the toothbrush away from her. Yea for good oral hygiene!

3. Picks her clothes. Technically I still pick her clothes, I'll pull out 2 outfits and then let her choose between them. Most of the time she tries to grab both outfits. Sometimes we have to coach her because she pulls both the pairs of pants and no shirt to wear. But she loves to try putting on her own shoes and hats and sometimes when I'm folding laundry she gets into my clothes and tries to put them on too.

4. Reads. She doesn't really read, she's only 1. But for the past little while I've been going through this book of stories with her called Treat Shop (a remnant of Jaren's childhood), especially when she is a little groggy just after waking up from a nap. Now, when she wakes up she has to sit in the big reading chair and won't let me read her the story. She has to sit by herself and hold the book and will even make little babbling noises as she turns the pages. She's going to a be a smart one!







5. Climbs the stairs. She knows how to go up and down the right way, but prefers to go up like we do. She can't yet, but she tries.







6. Pushes her stroller. We went to the mall and got some ice cream. She was more interested in pushing the stroller than begging us for some of our ice cream. She took off in her fluffy zebra striped tutu like skirt, pushing the stroller as fast as she could, the entire length of the mall. She started tiring out a little by the end, but she made sure that every person we passed looked at her and we could hardly stand that cute little skirt                                bouncing back and forth as she walked. Now she's begun to push us around too.

7. Feeding herself. The biggest struggle. I was really looking forward to being able to train Beth to use her silverware and feed herself and so I wouldn't have to do it anymore. Now, she'll hardly eat while I'm feeding her, but will really insist on doing it herself. The problem...not much of it ends up in her mouth.

8. Brushing her hair (and mine). She's always loved brushing her own hair, now she won't let me do it for her. And she helps me with mine and Jaren with his, at times. You do have to watch out, sometimes the wrong side of the brush comes at you kind of hard...

9. Cleaning out her ears. I have an aversion to having water in my ears, so after my showers I use the opportunity to dry out my ears and clean them while I'm at it. That has become the habit for Beth after bath-time too. She definitely knows where the q-tips go.