independence

One of Ada's favorite phrases these days is "I do it". We'll try to help her put her shoes on and she says "I do it", we try to help her into the shower and she says "I do it", we try to open a bag of goldfish and she says "I do it". You get the point.

So our newest tack is trying to figure out ways to convince Ada that it is her idea to do things, and to break down tasks that we would normally do for Ada into smaller tasks that Ada is able to accomplish on her own. For the most part this is pretty doable, but every so often we run into a task that Ada can't quite get her head around and then the course of "Elp, Elp, Elp" comes raining down.

Of course this doesn't happen too often, but when it does, it comes with a dose of - how could you think I could do this on my own - incredulity.