Mr. Independents

It's been quieter than normal around here these past 5 days. That could be due to the fact that Taylor went on his first camping trip with his best friend. And that means one less bored child to sit around the house and complain that there's nothing to do besides nit-pick with his brothers. I do miss him and am very thankful that he is returning home this evening.

This morning there was another round of 'too quiet', you know the type that instantly makes you know that something is going on that most likely shouldn't be. (We have lots of those moments in our household.)

Hubby was out the door at 5 am and Luke awoke slightly thereafter. It was incredibly too early to start the day, so I brought him in bed with me and we fell back asleep. Or so at least I thought we did. I know for a fact I sure did. I was in the middle of a dream which happened to be about Luke playing with my makeup and smearing it all over our garage when I instantly woke up and sat straight up in bed. I look over next to me and there is no Luke. So I jump out of bed, trip over Carson who is asleep on the floor (nothing new there) and stumble into the kitchen where I see the back door wide open. I run out and hope to see him in the backyard, but no, he's not there and the gate is wide open. Oh crap. It's 6:30 in the morning on garbage day and my 3 year old is somewhere outside beyond the safe boundaries of our fenced in yard. I run around to the front of the yard and in the back of my mind I am hoping there are no neighbors out to see my crazed-manic self in PJ's and wild bed head.

And there he was. That little turd went across the street and was getting the newspaper! Thank the Lord there were no cars around. This is the reason I still have child locks on my doors and locks on my gates. They were not engaged - obviously.

Is a three year old supposed to be this independent this early on? He even dresses himself, uses the potty on his own, gets his own snacks, prepares his toothbrush and does a pretty good job of brushing his teeth by himself. Sometimes it's alarming, such as this morning's episode. And add to it Carson's newest thing, which is to take a shower the first thing when he wakes up in the morning. He's 5 people. It's not normal, but I'll try not to complain too much.

I want my boys to be independent, but dudes, slow it down. Let me still have some Mommy duties, seriously!