'I can do it myself'

Alex is way more independent than Austin has ever been. Don't get me wrong, Austin is very much a do-it-himself kind of kid. But Alex, just takes that attitude and takes it to the next level.

To date, everything she has learned to do by herself, she has learned to do earlier than Austin -- for the sole reason that Austin can already do it. I mean, she learned to walk at 10 months mainly because Austin could get up and run out of a room and she wanted to be able to do the same thing.

So last fall, she learned how to dress herself. As early as September (so before she was even 2 and a half), I have been able to tell her to go get dressed. And she does. And she does with such gutso that she doesn't want anyone to help her.

This results in two things. The first is that her clothes don't always match. At first, I had an issue with this. I'd drag her back to her room to change a shirt or a pair of pants because the thought of her going out with pink pants and a red shirt was embarassing. And then it suddenly dawned on me -- why? Why bother? Why fight her about it.

So I pick the fights that matter. Like the time in early October she insisted on wearing a summer dress and sandals. So as a compromise, I made her wear a t-shirt and leggings undernearth. And socks. Hence, we had this look as we took Austin to school:

 It's not bad really. And honestly, who is she hurting. So I let it go. Some days it's dresses, some days it's rainboots when it's sunny outside. Whatever.

Lately, it's backward shirts. You see, she puts her own shirts on, but sometimes it goes on with the print on her front, and other times it goes on with the print on her back. The fun part of this is that she knows she's doing it. She almost does it on pupose. She comes running out of her room now, a big grin on her face and says to me "mommy, it's backwards day!" And for the rest of the day, regardless of where we go, she looks like this:

I've had some funny looks from people. And some people have actually come up to me when we're out and say "you know her shirt is on backwards". Yup, I always answer....and she's so damn proud of it.