LifeTrain

Mr. Independent, Mr. "I do it!", Mr. Impatient

Grant is in the stage where he wants to do everything himself. Paired with his inablitiy to wait, we have a disasterous combination. He can reach almost anything with his buddy "the dining table chair". He scoots that thing everywhere and has been recently exploring the world of preparing food for himself. You might ask, "Where is his mother? The poor neglacted child!".

You see, Dean came and interrupted things here at the Fadely house. Sometimes I am nursing or changing a diaper and can not immediately rush to the aid of Number 1, as we jokingly refer to the three-year-old first born.

So, this morning Grant waltzed into my room and said, "I want something for breakfast". Feeding Dean, as I somehow always seem to be, I told him that if he waited a minute I would certainly feed him as well. A minute? A whole minute?! Silly me, this is an eternity to my young boy who will surely starve in that amount of time.

When I get downstairs, Grant is standing on Dining Table Chair in front of the toaster oven. There is a perfectly golden toasted waffle waiting for him. Upon seeing me, he points out that he "can't get it- it's hot". So, not only did he pull the frozen waffles out of the freezer- he also took one out of the bag, put it into the toaster oven, closed the door, and plunged down the toaster knob. I was speechless.

Sure, we have outlet plugs and cabinet locks and strangle-free window blinds...but how do you "kid-proof" when the kid is so determined? If I unplug the toaster oven, would he attempt to plug it in himself? And which poses the greater harm- attempting to plug it in (risking electric shock), or burning himself because it wasplugged in?

Potty training update

Grant has just completed his initial chart and will be allowed a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's ("where a kid can be a kid"). We are now working on a chart of 12 spaces that allows him a trip to go swimming. Mom is hanging in there. In an effort to be consistent with him, we haven't gone out much. I'm quite stir crazy- but hopefully we'll make enough progress to change that soon.