Five things I’m thrilled my girls can do for themselves

There are loads of milestones in a child’s life.  Walking and talking are all very well, but there are some more practical things that I am just thrilled my two girls can now do for themselves.  Here is my top five:

1.  Swing on a swing. Now when we go to the park I can sit down on a bench and read the paper.  After 6 years of trailing little girls from swing to slide to monkey bars to merry go round and back again, which was fine while it lasted, its nice to be able to sit back and watch them play from a distance.

2.  Get dressed. Of course, sometimes they don’t actually want to dress themselves, but we all have days like that.  The important thing is, they CAN dress themselves.  I used to be the kind of person who was always on time, but since having children no morning has passed without me saying at some point “come on girls, we’re running late!”  Now that I’m back to dressing one person a day instead of three, there is a chance I’ll start running on time one day soon.

3.  Getting food from the kitchen. Of course this is a mixed blessing, as the girls might (unknown to me) sometimes start the day with a cupcake.  But when they wander into the kitchen mid-afternoon and utter the immortal line “I’m hungry.  What do we have to eat?” I can simply point to the cupboard and suggest that they find out.

4.  Put on their own seatbelt. A small thing, but bearing in mind the constant running late business, that two fewer things I need to do before careening out of the driveway in the morning.

5.  Wipe their own bottom. Enough said.

Now, if we could just get them vacuuming, washing dishes, cooking dinner, earning money and doing a spot of gardening…