As previously mentioned, my Miss Bossy Pants is the Queen of “I do it!”
When she wakes up in the morning and it’s time to change her diaper, she screeches, “I do it!”
When I turn on the stove and open the fridge to grab the eggs, she blocks me with her tiny body and yells, “I do it!”
When she’s thirsty and I flick the spigot to pour her a glass of water, she pushes me aside and insists, “I do it!”
When I open my car door, she crawls into the driver seat and proclaims, “I do it!”
In fact, the only thing she doesn’t “do” is clean up after herself.
While I want to raise an independent, free-thinking, assertive woman, I find it difficult to see that woman in the toddler sharing my home. Walking that line between allowing her the freedom to make mistakes and learn from experience while still maintaining some sort of order is exhausting. Besides, she’s not even two. At what point do I end up with the crazy kid no one wants at the playgroups?
I try to ignore the spilled water, the broken eggs, the backwards clothes and remind myself that she’s learning. And usually I’m successful. But sometimes, when she squeezes her body between me and the grocery cart, knocking over a display of oranges in while she “do it!” or when she rips off her diaper and runs naked through a family gathering yelling “I do it nakey!”, I have a hard time.
How do you handle the “I do it’s”? Any tips for this exhausted Mommy?
