Miss Independent

Over the past week Sofia has suddenly become Miss Independent. In her oh so "wise and old" age of 16 months, she's decided that she doesn't need me all the time anymore.  As of today she has  no problem playing for 30 minutes on her own while I craft, blog or do dishes. This is huge for us!

The only thing that tricked me about this new independent stage is that she no longer gives me hugs or kisses when asked. Daniele of course gets millions of voluntary kisses. At first this made me very sad, I felt like she suddenly didn't like me anymore. Last night after almost a whole day of ignoring mama, she called me into put her down to sleep. While she was relaxing she pulled me head in close to hers and gave me more kisses then I could even dream of. She patted my head and shoulder and held my hand as I sung her to sleep. Needless to say my heart was over flowing with gratitude. Of course this morning there were no hugs to be had again, but at least she wanted to play and sit in my lap and give me pats on the back.

She's such a little person now. Any time she does something that an adult would do Daniele and I look at each other and say LPS ( little person syndrome). I love and hate this age. I love it more then I hate it because it's exciting to see her grow, explore her environment and learn to communicate. But sometimes her new found independence can lead to such trouble that makes me so mad. We've entered the testing mama's patience phase. I think I say, "This too shall pass at least 5 times a day."

Overall being a parent is getting so much easier now that she can express her opinions and wants verbally. Of course there is still and element of whining, which leads to frustration on both our parts, but it's getting so much better.

Oh yes, she loves helping me unload the dish washer and put away laundry!Yeah for little helpers!