Independence. Isn’t that what every parent wants for their child? Isn’t lack of independence what drives parents-to-be to abort their unborn children? Their fear that their child will always be dependent on them. As a parent of a child with special needs, independence takes on a whole new meaning.
Will Ella live on her own? Will she have a job?
Independence. It is what we strive for. It is why women fought for the right to write, the right to work and the right to vote – their independent rights.
Ben and I have stepped into the stage in parenthood I would like to call, Managing Independence. Both of my children, more than ever before, are asserting their independence.
I love it.
I hate it.
Tonight, I asked Ella to set the table. I put all the elements she would need on the table and continued to make supper. When I emerged out of the kitchen, the table was empty. That is because Ella had set the coffee table…perfectly. Why not? It’s her height. Every place had its plate, a fork on one side, a knife on the other and a cup. It was complete with lemon juice, jam, ranch dressing, half a lemon and an avocado to accompany her chicken and rice. I love it.A few days ago, we had a code red at our house…again. Ella had escaped. I was in the yard and she slipped out the front door unnoticed past Ben who was in the house. She couldn’t have been gone more than 5 minutes before we realized it was a bit too quiet. Ben and I frantically began to run up and down the streets looking for her because when she goes…she runs…and she is fast….Eventually, Ben found her two blocks away. The scary part about this little excursion was that he found her on the other side of West 4th avenue, which is a very busy street at the end of our block. She would have had to cross the street, by herself. The question is, did she wait for the walk signal or just go? I hate it.
**Still on the search for the perfect GPS device for children before kindy starts**
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| On this day, Jakob wanted to know where people were from (inspired by the world cup). So he made a sign with all the flags on it and sat out on West 4th asking people. It was pretty cute. I love it. |
The other day, Jakob decided that he wanted a ham sandwich…but we had no ham. So he made a list of the things he would need and we went to the store. When we returned he made himself his ham sandwich complete with mayo, lettuce, tomato and ham. I love it.
After our supper at the coffee table tonight, we went to the beach, as we often do. The kids ride their bikes and Ben and I walk. Ella is obviously a bit slower than her brother, so Jakob will often go ahead a bit…but this time however, we weren’t even two blocks and we had lost track of him. We expected to meet up with him when we got to the cross walk but he wasn’t there. We looked down the street in the direction of the beach – no sign of him. We turned the corner to where we go down to the beach and expected to see him at the top of the stairs waiting for us…not there either. I had Ben run ahead to see if he could find him. Of course, he was already down at the beach. I hate it.
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