I can do it by myself!

James has definitely turned the corner these last few weeks (although being sick) into a boy who wants to do things by himself. For about a month now, he's been getting up in the morning, undressing enough to get his nighttime diaper off, then putting his jammy pants back on. One morning he even got his own slippers on before coming to wake me up (in the guest room since our room is downstairs).
He seems to think that it's all fine and good if he goes to the potty, poops, and wipes himself. Not all fine and good. Yesterday I had to have a little bit of a talk with him about how he can do it himself, but he needs Mommy or Daddy to check to make sure everything is "spotless".... if you know what I mean. :) The other day he helped himself to the bathroom after his nap, took his diaper off and went poop in the potty all by himself. He was so proud! We are so proud of him too... especially after months of telling him that he should only poop in the potty now since he's 3.
One more "milestone" for James was a few nights ago. I put him to bed as usual, tucked him in and came downstairs. When I went to check on him about an hour later, he mysteriously had socks on that he didn't have on when I left the room! Ok... so James is 3. He's tall enough to reach to the TOP drawer of his chest (5 feet high?), pull the drawer open, reach over the top of the drawer and get a pair of socks. He's not even 3 and a half!!!!
When I saw those socks, I grinned and chuckled pretty hard under my breath. I got a bit closer to inspect... one was inside out, and the other had the heel of the sock on the top of his foot. But, he did it himself. I love him so much.
We call Kaitlyn "Miss Independent" and she's really sticking to that lately. She has graduated to sitting at the table with us on a booster seat. Goodbye highchair! She's really enjoying it too, I can see the little glimmer in her eye when we're all sitting around the table. Maybe it's the reflection of me beaming that I see in her eye, but it's there. :) She also is getting VERY good at using her spoon, and gently tipping her bowl to get the remains of whatever is in there... usually yogurt or cereal. Thinking that I need to bite the bullet eventually and risk her spilling, I gave her a cup of water the other night to see how she did with it. She did wonderfully! I just had to remind her that she couldn't shake the cup like she does with sippy cups.
This morning (oh by the way, I'm still waiting for James to wake up, and it's 9:07) when we were having breakfast, she ate all of her cereal and milk with bananas all by herself. She wanted more, so I shared my Cheerios with her. She polished those off and I smiled and clapped for her and said, "Kaitlyn! Good girl!" and she says, "Thank you!" My little drama queen.
After breakfast was over, we headed to the family room. I asked Kaitlyn if she wanted to watch a show, and she said, "BARNEY!" clear as a bell. She doesn't ever really get to pick what they watch, since James is usually around and it's whatever is on Disney or Noggin that plays. But this morning, Kaitlyn is watching Barney!