Miss Independent

It's so awesome to watch T becoming more independent.  She's all of a sudden trying to do so much more for herself, accompanied by the phrase "I do it".  The other day she wanted crackers, so she went to the pantry, opened the door, took out the crackers, went to the kitchen, opened a drawer, took out a snack-sized zipper bag and handed them to B.  Whoa.  At least she still needs us a little, right?

One of the down-sides is that she likes practicing her new skills over and over... and OVER.  She recently figured out how to climb into and out of the tub.  Along with being able to remove her clothes, this should be a good thing, right?  "Go ahead T, get undressed and get into the tub".  Except that line is quickly followed by,
"No, stay in the tub."
"Get back into the tub."
"No, really, you need a bath. Stay in the tub!"
The last couple of baths haven't been so pleasant for either of us.  This breaks my heart.  I LOVE bath time.  More than just that she's contained, but she's always so happy in the tub.  We sing, we play, we kick and splash.  Ugh.  I just don't know what to do! She yells.  I yell.  Its no fun.

On good thing that came out of our struggles last night was the opportunity to teach T about apologizing for our bad behavior.  I was trying to explain to her that when we do something wrong, we need to say sorry.  We've tried to teach her this in the past and the girl is so stubborn!  She refuses to say sorry.  (I wonder where she got her stubborness from?)  This time though, I figured I would model the behavior I wanted her to do.  I said to her first, "I'm sorry I yelled at you out of frustration."  Then asked her if she could apologize for yelling at me and instantly came her reply "Sorry, Mummy".  Wait.  Did that just work??  There's my silver lining for the evening!

Ok, so independence comes with some challenges but it is so amazing to see her development.  Anyone have any suggestions for the bathtime struggle or do we just ride it out until the novelty wears off?