Self

In the past few days the one word out of Ryan's mouth more than any other is "self."

Ryan would like not to be picked up and carried up the stairs. He'd like to do it himself. So, yesterday when I was trying to get us out of the house for a little bit, I picked him up and walked up the stairs with him yelling "self!" When we got upstairs, he walked back down and then walked up. Self.

To get into the truck isn't so easy for a two-year-old, yet Ryan wanted to do it "self." I let him. I let him when we were leaving Target and while he did that I was putting Timothy into the truck on the other side. Ryan was sitting so nicely in his car seat that I forgot I hadn't buckled him in. Lucky for me, we didn't even get out of the parking lot when he said, "Mom buckle."

It was time for a bath and Timothy gets his bath first. Ryan wanted to go in and I told him he'd need to have his clothes off before getting in. Of course he said he wanted to do it himself. Off came his pants, then the socks, then the diaper, but mom had to help with his shirt.

It's been "self" for eating anything from rice to yoghurt. It's been "self "during diaper changes (we're so glad potty training is just a few more diapers away. We told Ryan when his current stash of diapers run out he gets to wear big-boy pants... aka Pull-Ups.) where Ryan wants to wipe his own butt, pull the diaper tabs and pull off and on his own pants. It's been "self" for helping with Timothy (which is cute), "self" for putting on shoes and "self" for putting toast in the toaster oven. It's been "self, self, self."

My baby boy is not such a baby anymore. Really I realized this when we came home from the hospital with Timothy and Ryan seemed so big. Now, he really seems like a big boy. In some ways it's sad because mom likes doing some of these things (and I can get them done faster), but I know he needs to be able to do these things as he grows.