“Nate Do It!”

Nate is definitely, firmly, unequivocally two. He has been on a very strong let-me-do-it-myself kick, which for some reason seems even more stubborn and more pronounced than Alex’s same phase at this age. Nate not only wants to climb into his car seat himself, he also wants to open the car door — which, by the way, he does not have the hand strength to do, and so we had a nice little fit yesterday as I lifted him to help him reach the latch and dared to lend a helping tug on the handle. He wants to turn on the faucet himself to wash his hands, which requires a careful balancing on the edge of the sink in order to reach (and sometimes results in a teetering bonk on the head with the faucet, but he is undeterred). He wants to be in charge of light switches, whether he can actually reach them or not.

This morning, however, was not a good one. Mike went to pull him out of his crib and he had a hissy fit, pronounced “Nate Do It!” and proceeded to climb out of his crib by himself. The lovely screen we were using to make the sides less grippy/climable is no longer a match for Mr. Independent. Order for toddler bed has been placed!