Shopping for school supplies - Independence Style!

Last night, after a snack to return my lovely almost-5-year-olds to their normal selves, we braved the store to buy our school supplies.  Gracie insisted on pushing her own cart.  Lukie was too tired and asked if he could sit in the seat, so I pushed his cart.  With reluctance, we proceeded.  In the future, Gracie's goal will be to work on not running into the back of people (my ankles!).  She loved the independence of pushing her own cart and putting her own school supplies into the basket. She also loved all of the praise she got from complete strangers:

"What a big girl you are pushing that cart!"

"You are super strong to push that cart all by yourself!"

My favorite one came as Gracie pushed her cart, filled with bagged purchases, next to me as we walked to our car. A woman and her daughter were walking toward us.

"Mommy!  That cart is moving all by itself."

"Oh, my goodness!  Ma'am, is that your cart?  It is going to go into the street!"

"Look, Mommy, the cart has feet!"

Swimmers

This summer, Gracie and Lucas have been learning to swim.  I purposely registered them for a program that had a daily swim lesson.  Before the first day, they were terrified about the swimming without their trusty floaties.  But, as I suspected, they gained confidence and with it came the ability to swim without their floaties at all.

A few days ago, we held a ceremonial "Throwing Away of the Floaties."  It was grand.  There are no pictures of it, of course, because we threw them away directly into the disgusting black trashcan.  Lucas hesitated for just one minute when he went to throw it away.  It can be intimidating to give up something that has kept you safe and allowed you one of your major opportunities of freedom.  But in the end, both floaties were consigned to the garbage dump.

Following the ceremony, we headed over to the pool, where my lovelies swam for 3 hours, basking in their independence and the lovely water.

They stayed close to the side of the pool, after all, they usually have a swim instructor close by.  When I got into the pool with them, they were much more courageous.  They swam unaided back and forth between the steps and my position 15 feet away.  Their pride was palpable and it made me realize how quickly they are growing up. 

In a few short weeks, they will be starting Kindergarten and every day seems to bring some new thing they can do or want to do on their own.  It makes me so proud to be their Mommy!