Mr and Mr Independence

It's not about what you can do for your country in our house, it is about what you can do for yourself. We are in the age of 'Do it MYSELF!'

Little Brother has to hold the keys when going to the car. It was a great idea to start with, getting him motivated to walk to the car himself. Now he is adamant, he must hold the keys, he must find the right key himself (amazingly he does find the correct key for which ever car we are going to - worked that one out himself the little genius) he has to put it in the door to unlock, then he usually permits me to put him into his seat. I am not given possession of the keys however, until I am in my seat and ready to start the car. I then cry in shock ' But where did I leave my keys?' He giggles and passes them over. Heaven forbid if you happen to be running a little late and mess with the system.

Big Brother being more capable, is even keener to 'DIM'.
Time to get dressed : 'I do it myself'- and off he goes. He went to play centre the other day in a pretend straw skirt festooned with plastic flowers. No undies either. (Mental note to check these things, luckily I had a random pair of shorts in the car. Then there is the terrible disasters of two legs in the same leg of the trousers. We love the independence and of course we encourage it, but...
'I want to get dressed myself' (Great)
'I want to put my own sugar on my weetbix (OK, I guess)
'I want to pour my milk myself' (Mess all over the table)
'I want to wipe my bottom my self' (Mess all over everywhere and he seems to need to use a whole roll of paper each time)
Although I did love it last night when he announced : 'I want to put myself to bed'.