"I can do it all by myself because I'm a big grrr"

Lexi is definitely in a "I can do it myself" phase, which is fantastic about 95% of the time, and miserable about 5% of the time when I'm either in a rush or standing in the rain. I've been reminded many times that I have to give her the opportunity to do things by herself, or I'll be doing them for her forever. This is very true, though difficult to work on when it is just SO much faster to do it myself. But, with baby #2 on the way, we have been working on getting Lexi to do a lot more on her own now. In just the last few weeks, here are the things she has either begun to do on her own, or completely mastered:

• Climbing into her car seat - this is a great thing for Mama's aching back, but on a rainy day it makes me want to cry when she pauses every five seconds to inspect a piece of sand on the seat.
• Going up and down the stairs - we've been working on it for awhile, but she has totally mastered it to the point where she now goes upstairs to play by herself, or comes down after a nap on her own.
• Getting out of bed and opening her own door - very cute as it's usually followed by her big brown eyes popping up at me in bed...less cute when it turns into, "Get up Mama. Now. Get up right now. Why aren't you getting up? Stand up!"
• Reading books - well, she doesn't actually read the words, but that girl knows every single book we own by heart - page by page. She especially loves to read them to her dolls.
• Riding her tricycle - she can steer and pedal, although she still needs some help getting over big bumps, or stopping when she's going too fast down the driveway. She also gets VERY mad if she even suspects that you might be touching the handle.
• Working the buttons on the blender - this morning she asked me how I would ever make the smoothies without her. I have no idea...those buttons are way to hard for me.
• Unlocking the door - I'm not sure who taught her this skill, and since the doors are actually hard for me to open, it's not too concerning...but what is concerning is that she can also lock them...and sometimes I run outside for a minute and she thinks it's funny to shut the door on me. I'm going to have to remember to always bring my keys from now on!

Well, I could go on and on...I know there are more that I'm missing, but those are the biggies. The *one* that we wish she would do??? Potty!!! She *can* do it, but only at the most inconvenient times - like when we're in the mall and I have ten shirts I'm carrying around to try on...or when we're in the car no where near a bathroom, and it's pouring rain outside - you know, those times when I swear she is just saying it to torture her poor mother. But, she did request the potty last night, and successfully use it, so we're still making progress.