Mr. Independent

In the last few weeks, Will has become more and more adamant about doing things for himself... pouring his own milk, making his own waffles, putting on his own seat belt, washing the dishes, pushing his baby brother's stroller. This has required quite a bit of patience on my part.  If we're pressed for time, particularly in the morning, I have to make sure that Will feels as if he's doing most things for himself.  If I 'take over', in an effort to speed things up, the whole thing backfires and there's a complete meltdown... not only slowing things down, but bringing things to a complete standstill.  So on the upside, before too long, he'll be dressing himself, brushing his own teeth, and helping around the house by performing some simple tasks.  On the downside, I have to leave plenty of extra time for things that used to be simple and quick and I'm completely paranoid about Will being in the kitchen by himself for even the smallest amount of time.  Suppose I'm feeding the baby in the living room and Will wanders into the kitchen... I hear a chair being pushed across the floor, cabinets opening and closing, the refrigerator door slamming... "Honey...what are you doing?  Come in here..."  "Mommy... I'm just making something..."  So I'm headed to the kitchen to make sure nothing inappropriate is going into the toaster.  It's amazing how 'mobile' I am while feeding Liam.  With Will, I used to sit in one spot for the entire feeding.  With Liam, I'm holding him in one arm, propping the bottle with my chin and using my other arm to help or do something for Will.  Amazingly enough, with all the movement and craziness, Liam spits up way less than Will did.  Go figure.

Speaking of Liam... he's becoming increasingly awake and alert. He's focusing much better on the people and things around him. He's lifting his head more and more often and for longer periods of time. He's already beginning to lose that 'newborn' look.  

Before you know it, he'll be teaming up with is big brother, to "make something" in the kitchen.