A Little Independence

Since I moved to Montana I've been watching my niece and nephew while my sister (their mom) is at work. I've begun to notice that my niece (Morgan) is getting more and independent. She is going to be two years old next week though she seems older than that to me. So for the first time since I started watching over them, both my niece and nephew are using the bathroom on their own. Before yesterday they always needed me or someone else to go with them but now they are going on their own (most of the time).

My sister had called to let me know that she was getting off work and would be by to pick her kids up in about ten minutes and to have them ready to go. So I let them know (yes, they understood) that mom was on the way home. So I gathered their things and my niece grabbed her shoes. Naturally I went to help her put them on because I or someone else always has helped her. However, this time she got really annoyed when I tried to help her.

So I let her be and every few minutes I went back to see how she was doing. Even though she was struggling, she was insistant that I not interfere with her. To make a long story short, she managed to get one shoe on in about two minutes. But the other shoe she had problems with and I was able to help with that one. I also noticed that she is dressing her self more and more offten. Not only that but picking out what she wants to wear.

I'm always a little surprised when babies I know start growing up like that. It's like, I know it's going to happen but didn't realize it was that time already.

I'll never forget when my kid climbed out of the crib on her own for the first time. She walked way earlier than she was supposed to according to the charts, so I had to make a mad rush to childproof everything.

I gotta say, I love my kids, but man I don't really miss those days! It was absolutely exhausting! They are much more fun now that I have one college age and one teen.

(Probably cause I still act like a teen myself. I refuse to grow up dammit)

Star,

Though I'm not a parent (probably never will be) I have to imagine that raiseing children never gets any easier. Just when they go from crawling to walking then babbling to talking and then from pointing to grabbing, etc...there is always a challenge. On the other side of parenting, to this day I worry about my mother, probably more than I should.

You shouldn't worry, Slop. My folks can't walk and chew gum and they've made it into their 70's

Slopmaster wrote:

Star,

Though I'm not a parent (probably never will be) I have to imagine that raiseing children never gets any easier. Just when they go from crawling to walking then babbling to talking and then from pointing to grabbing, etc...there is always a challenge. On the other side of parenting, to this day I worry about my mother, probably more than I should.

To me it's actually gotten much easier after they got to be school age. I was so relieved that I didn't have to watch them like a hawk afraid they'd get into something poison or hurt themselves, plus the fact that they could actually talk and tell me things. It unnerved me to no end when they were babies and would cry and I couldn't figure out what the heck was wrong.

I'm not cut out for babies! Wore me out. heh heh.


Teens are fun though! They are both girls but their personalities are so different. One is all into reading Poe and into horror movies, wants to be a forensic pathologist, watches Forensic Files all the time and the other is all arty and looking into graphic design, dresses up every single day (I have to warn her at least an hour before we go out so she can do makeup and get to looking the way she likes).

Starfireone wrote:

To me it's actually gotten much easier after they got to be school age. I was so relieved that I didn't have to watch them like a hawk afraid they'd get into something poison or hurt themselves, plus the fact that they could actually talk and tell me things. It unnerved me to no end when they were babies and would cry and I couldn't figure out what the heck was wrong. I'm not cut out for babies! Wore me out. heh heh.

Actually I don't have to watch them that close right but I've learned that when they are out of view and very quiet, something horrible is happening. Usually it involves wrapping paper, books or soap. Also, I know exactly what your talking about in regards to communicating. It's fairly easy to get them to understand me but I can barely make out what they are saying. I am learning to interpret their words but it's slow going, I really need a child universal translator.

Quote :

Teens are fun though! They are both girls but their personalities are so different. One is all into reading Poe and into horror movies, wants to be a forensic pathologist, watches Forensic Files all the time and the other is all arty and looking into graphic design, dresses up every single day (I have to warn her at least an hour before we go out so she can do makeup and get to looking the way she likes).

I think that opinon is ironic because most parents would say the teen years are the hardest but honestly compared to their first five years, teen years would definately be easier. If not easier then more interesting because you really start to see what kind of person(s) they are going to be. That and you don't have to yell at them every five minutes to stop doing something destructive, that occures on a regular basis once every hour until they move out.