“I Do It Self!!!”
May 10, 2011
“I do it self!” is a phrase that we hear in our house many times a day now. Parker, right on schedule, has decided to exert some independence on his life. Sometimes, it’s fine. When he woke up yesterday morning and wanted to walk down the stairs by himself, I watched from the bottom, complimenting him and telling him how big he’s gotten. His smile when he reached the bottom was worth the extra three minutes it took to wait for him. On the other hand, sometimes those exclamations are not really useful, like when he wants to take off his clothes. Thankfully, I got to stay downstairs working on dinner while Parker exclaimed no less than 12 times last night that he would put his diaper on himself. Luckily for Zach, Parker could not hear me chuckling in the kitchen or I’m sure he really would have hammed it up 
As I think some of our good friends could attest to, kids at Parker’s age are on the verge of finally talking. They want to talk. They know what they want to say, but they just can’t find the words to communicate with the world. And that is indescribably frustrating. Parker takes this frustration out on the wrong toy you hand him when he flings it to the ground, or flinging himself to the ground when you just won’t do what he wants you to do.
Parker has always been our rough and tumble kid. He loves to wrestle. He loves to be tossed about. He loves anything that involves physical play. In our house, most of the time, this is ok. We separate the boys when Parker gets too physical. I put him down when he tries to hit me. We constantly remind him to be gentle, and show him gentle touches. But the kid just loves rough play. Last week at day care he chased another child. He pushed the child down (the kid’s head bumped a table) and then Parker when in for a bite. The teacher pulled Parker off of the other kid and reprimanded him. He, in his typical Parker fashion, melted and collapsed on the floor in tears. After the reprimand came the comforting and eventually they went back to playing normally.
