Independence Day

I started potty training Eliana at 18 months, and it was a long, grueling process. She was pretty much fully potty trained by 2 and 1/2, but I was too chicken to let her sleep without a diaper. Finally when she turned 3, I let her start sleeping in her underwear. Well, now she has decided that she is big enough to do everything on her own. This actually started a few weeks ago, but I'm slow to blog. She decided that she wants to get on the potty by herself, without a step stool. She also wants to wipe herself, and put her clothes back on by herself. While this is a huge step for her, and a lot less of her needing me, sometimes it's a bit annoying. Like if I'm trying to get us out the door quickly and she wants to put her shoes and jacket on by herself, it can take a long time, making us late. Now she wants to do everything else by herself, and if I start to do something for her, she protests and wants to start over from scratch. The other day she asked for an orange, so I got one for her and started to peel it for her. She told me that she wanted to peel it herself. "Okay," I said, and handed her the orange. "Nooooo," she wailed, "You already poked it!" and she demanded another orange. There was a tiny puncture in the rind where I had just begun to peel....
Lord, help me to have patience.
Then yesterday I told her that it was time to brush her teeth. I put the toothpaste on her toothbrush as I always do, and her face scrunched up. "I want to put the toothpaste on by myself." Then she insisted that I wash it off and let her do it herself.... I took a deep breath. "Okaaay,"
This is not exactly what I had pictured when I envisioned the kids doing things themselves. Hopefully, like many of those other unpleasant times that come with childhood, that this is just a phase.