Independence

Travis has never been shy about letting us know when he's ready for the next stage of his life. When he saw us eating mashed potatoes at seven months old, he decided he was ready to eat real food. When he saw that none of the other kids at daycare used a pacifer, he threw his and never bothered with it again. (He was only 9 months.) And despite his back surgery at 3 months old, he wasn't about to let his brother leave his sight so he crawled at 5 months and walked at 8 months. We also let Travis tell us when he was ready to go potty like a big boy (Three weeks and that was over.) And when he was ready to swim on his own. Easy! Just the other day, my bright-eyed five year-old made it known he was done with those pesky training wheels on his bike. Daddy willingly popped them off. Two days later, my boy can ride!