Independence Day

Trevor has been working hard to learn to dress himself lately. I really have absolutely no idea how old Clara was when she mastered this skill, but I have a feeling she was already there by the time she turned four. Since Trevor is the baby of the family, I guess we haven't really pushed him to spread his wings as much. I wouldn't say that we baby him; it's just that he doesn't insist on always doing things by himself, and we don't insist on it either. I don't mind playing tickle games while wrangling him into his jammies, and I like wiping off his sticky little face, then pretending to wipe the rest of him. It's fun. And it is undoubtedly faster. Second-children are thrown into a situation where parents don't necessarily have eight spare minutes to sit and wait while junior puts on his socks. They are at a disadvantage in the field of independence right from the get-go.

Turning four has made Trevi want to demonstrate his bigboyness. He has been struggling a bit, really, or "having issues" (and any other euphemisms you can think of for 'being difficult') and it has been frustrating to watch our normally easygoing guy as he melts down over some seemingly inconsequential thing. But in that struggle to find one's 4-year-old self, there are moments of glory. Tonight, he announced that he was going to go and put on his pajamas, and that no one was allowed to come in and help him. He went into his room and closed the door. A loaded dishwasher, tidied living room, and emptied recycling bin later, he emerged, victorious, from his room. The conversation that followed was classic Trevor:

"Manny! You got your jammies on all by yourself!"
"Ya, because I'm so big and so sweet. But not big and sweet like big sugary junk food. Big like a big kid and sweet like love. Do you know how I put my jammies on?"
"How?"
"First I put this leg in the hole that is only for this leg. Then I put the other leg in the hole that is only for the other leg. Then I pulled them up. Then I had them on, except for the top. So I put this arm in the sleeve that is only for this arm, and I put the other arm in the sleeve that is only for the other arm. And then I didn't know how to do up the buttons, so I decided that I don't want to do up the buttons. Don't I look proud?"
"You sure do. You know who else looks proud right now?"
"You do, because I'm so great!"

Great doesn't begin to cover it, Manny.