Independence

Independence.  What a big word for such a small person.  Recently Maxine was a flower girl at 2 weddings, both of them she didn't walk on her own.  I was not surprised. She can run around narrating her every move in the house but when she's out there in the big world she becomes timid and afraid clinging on to us for dear life.  Refusing to be put down for fear that people will grab her.  I think all this came about when she was smaller and people just grab her and carry her away from me.  Adults forget that children are people too and they are born with their own personalities.  She was born shy and demanding.  She is still shy and demanding.  I am trying to teach her to be independent and to learn to play on her own.  But even if she's more than 35lbs now and 3ft tall, I still enjoy carrying her around the house and squeezing her in my arms.  To me she will always be a tiny baby, I guess it just shows that I am not the right man for the job in teaching her how to be independent for if it were up to me I wouldn't have cut the umbilical cord.  So, this April we start summer school and in June we start going to preschool.  Good luck to us! I hand her over to the teachers and the impossible task of making her grow up and less attached to her mommy.  All the while I will be hiding behind the bushes watching her diligently.  Maybe I should go be the one who should learn to let go. :P

me and my baby bear