The Price of Independence

There's nothing like walking into your bathroom and stepping in a huge puddle of pee (urine, for those of you who prefer that term.) Let me back up. Emma has always been pretty independent-minded, starting from the time she showed up 12 days late and took 18 hours to emerge from my body. It's not that she has always wanted to do things on her own or by herself, but she certainly likes to call the shots. We've worked through lots of power struggles. For the most part, it's fun to see her develop her own little personality and zest for new experiences. She doesn't blink an eye at new situations like preschool and is happiest when she can have some say in daily decisions. Some of you know she picks out her clothes without help most days and it occasionally shows!!

Yesterday she informed me during church that she wanted to go up to children's time all by herself - "no mom or dad!" When it came time, she did her little "Chris Farley walk" (a good friend once very accurately described it to me as this) and sat down in the front. She did an excellent job. Later on in the service, she requested to go out and get a drink on her own. Once again, she made the CF strut to the fountain, got a drink, and returned to her seat. It's been my experience that in return for her independence, we see a better behaved child.

All that to say that Emma is generally very good at using the potty herself. She has never liked to be told when to go or try to go, but has done awesome when left to decide on her own. I knew she was going today before naptime. In fact, she came looking for me (I was putting Andrew to bed) and announced that she hadn't wiped well enough and therefore had changed her underwear (nice visual, huh?) I suppose the part she omitted was that she decided to try to empty her little potty from earlier this morning and it didn't make it into the toilet. I can't help but still feel proud of my little girl's independence. Guess I should go scrub the floor...