My Munchkin seems to be gaining more independence with each passing day. She pretty much eats by herself now, with me feeding her a few bites in between (if she lets me). She also gets involved while bathing and tries to soap herself. It is absolutely remarkable to watch the efforts she puts in and the level of independence she is gaining. In fact, she does things cheerfully when she can do them by herself – just the fact that she is able to do a thing she sees us do brings her joy.

Independence at this age does not mean they do not need you. They need you the most – nothing changes that! Independence means fulfilling their urge to be able to do things like we do. Independence means allowing them to be a part of day-to-day activities. Independence means giving them a chance to complete things without us doing it for them. Independence means many more things like these.

What is our role in their independence? Watching carefully and giving them opportunities to exercise their independence and develop their motor skills and concentration. We simply give them activities / opportunities and then take a step back and allow them to work independently.

How did My Munchkin exercise independence this month?

Art

Though art is regularly included in our activities, this time we took it to our balcony. It was a beautiful day and so we decided to do some painting. I quickly made some homemade paint and got out the art supplies and we were all set.

My Munchkin had a great time, painting her canvas and herself. We showed her how to use the paintbrush once and then stayed back and watched her explore the colours, holding the brush, dipping it in the paint, making strokes. The concentration was incredible too and we tried our level best to not break it when trying to get some candid moments!

Stacking Cups

This is a newbie on her shelf. I have shown her how to use it and she does work with it trying to understand how to get the activity done. I will let her be to figure this out by herself like she does for everything else.

Farm Animals

I added a small crochet basket (gifted by a friend) with Farm Animals and left it for her to explore. She removed each animal and looked at them closely. This, however, was replaced soon as I found farm animals in bigger sizes. I will cover more on that in the coming posts.

Outdoor Play

Walker Wagon

We purchased a Wagon for her this month (late but I’m glad we finally found it). She took for it immediately and used it to cruise around the entire house. I will give a full review on this soon.

Coin Box

This has been her favourite recently. She initially had a difficult time getting the coins in but soon figured her way out and since then regularly uses it. I get to see some good amount of concentration when My Munchkin is working with her coin box. What do I do? I try to not disturb her. Watch her in the video below.

What do you do to encourage independence in your Munchkin? Would love to have more ideas.