Toddler Sized Independence

I've been working on trying to give my son some "independence." Meaning, letting him do things on his own without me pestering him :)

To help with this, I made some changes to make things more accessible to my son:

1) Used a command hook so my son can hang his towel himself in the bathroom. Even added a little letter for him. Saw this on Pinterest. Now he can hang up his own towel. He loves hanging his own towel and really likes that his letter is there.

It looks crooked! But it's not, it's just the angle of my camera. :)

2) Saw this trick I saw on Pinterest to put kid's toothbrush lower and under the sink. She used Velcro and attached to the cabinet door.

http://livingwellmom.com/2013/10/organizing-toothbrushes-toothpaste-out-of-sight/

I was going to do the exact same thing, but when I was at the store, I decided to just use an over-the-door basket instead. I only have one child for now, so this will do. If I have more and this doesn't work anymore, I will probably do the Velcro trick. Before my son's toothbrush was in the medicine cabinet and he can't reach there. (I have the "clear surface" thing going on and nothing is on the bathroom counter.)

Here's what it looks like. There's a cup for his toothbrush, one for flossers, and one for toothpaste.

We probably don't really need the toothpaste cup and can just place it in the basket. Will see how that works out. I haven't added labels & not sure if I will (that may be done when/if I have more kids). Now, all is within my son's reach and it's still hidden and off the counter. Yay and yay! Now my son can get his own toothbrush, add toothpaste by himself, and brush his teeth. He's really enjoying this and giggles every time he gets to brush his teeth. 

3) I started this awhile ago, but in the pantry - I cleared out the lowest shelf for my son to put his plates/cups/silverware on. He sets his own place settings, puts away his own dishes in the dishwasher, and also puts away his dishes when they're clean from the dishwasher. This is his little spot. Sometimes he organizes it really nicely, other times - not so much! But I try my best not to "fix it" and let him run with it. Every meal he's super excited to grab a plate, silverware, and a cup. 

Breaking the Budget?

None of this was in my budget, so I was worried I wouldn't be able to get any of this done this month. I looked at my budget and didn't want to allocate more funds mid-month, as that goes against the whole "instant gratification" thing I'm trying to avoid. Instead of waiting a month to finish these small projects, I decided to just re-allocate funds to my "household goods" funding category. There were a few spending categories that I allocated funds to, but can live without this month. 

Other things we are working on: 

1) He's learning to put his clothes on and learning to take them off. This has been an interesting process. He can totally do it by himself! But he will whine and complain so I'll help him out. I'm trying to find a happy medium with him because I know he can physically do it, it just might take him a little longer.

2) He's learning to put his own shoes on. He's got this pretty much down, but he's still practicing. Sometimes he'll get left/right mixed up, but that's to be expected.

3) Started a "tomorrow drawer" where all things needed for tomorrow are placed. He's working on picking out clothes (top, bottom, socks) and putting them in the tomorrow drawer. Then, in the morning he gets the clothes from the drawer and works on getting dressed. This has led to some mismatched outfits! But he's loving making the choices and using his "morrow" drawer.

I'm still looking at other ways to give him more independence and have him start doing things on his own. So far, these small things are helping with that. Plus, I love how excited he gets when he can do it himself and how much pride he takes in it. Hopefully good habits will come with this and it'll be easier as he gets older (a parent can hope!).