Independence

Melayna is truly a two-year old.  She wants to do everything by herself right now, but if she can't get it right away she gets very frustrated.  Then if you try to help she gets even more mad.  I know it sounds funny to say, but I love it in some ways.  I love her determination!  I love that she is starting to do more for herself, and I love that she speaks her mind.  She is a girl who knows what she wants.  Now on the other side of that, she speaks her mind with yelling or screaming at you and she takes a lot longer to do things on her own than if I help her.  I am having to leave extra time for her to do things on her own.  Luckily, time is a little less of a concrete concept here.  I have been told to show up sometime between 8:00 and 8:30, and no one says anything about being on time.  The time I come and go is very flexible and it makes Melayna's struggles to do things on her own easier to deal with.  I think we get so caught up in being late or being in a hurry that two-year old struggles are a lot harder to handle than they have to be.  Now don't get me wrong crying for five minutes in the morning because she is not allowed to put on her own diaper can be trying no matter how much time you have, but some struggles are easier to handle with the lax timing schedule we have.

Lucas' big achievement lately has been completing math problems without guidance.  He is really picking up on things quicker than I thought he would.  He completed his math workbook he was given to finish out the school year and it was truly a breeze for him.  He is doing fantastic with his homeschooling stuff.  I can now give him all the things he needs to complete and he can sit at the table to get them all done.  I love to see his independence, but it makes him seem so grown-up.  He even told on the bus today that he tries to "act like a grown-up person sometimes just to get practice."  He cracks me up.  There is no doubt in my mind that after this trip, my two little ones are going to be so much bigger.  I am enjoying them as much as I can while I can.  I have to remember to let them be little.

We built a castle to play princess and superhero in.