Girl Power

I've been trying to give Em choices when it comes to things I think she can have some control over such as wearing outfit A or outfit B. Do you want to take a bath before dinner or after dinner? Would you like to go to the playground or ride your trike?She has been recently choosing her lunch with assistance and helps me prepare it the night before. She is allowed to choose her fruits of the day as well as her snack. On Mondays she is allowed to completely pick her lunch provided it has something from each group (drink, meal items fruit and snack). Since parents provide meals this is a great activity for us to do together. I am going to try some bento meals soon as I think she would enjoy the variety and kid friendly packing. It is these small things that I believe empower her and as she gets older will aid her in decision making skills. As an aside today's menu was vanilla yogurt and a banana for breakfast, chicken and edamame for lunch (new item), grapes and animal crackers for snack. She brings 3 small water bottles a day which are refilled as needed. So this morning I brought her two outfits to choose from. Both were things she hasn't worn before. She immediately asked for the dress which I bought last week at the Osk Kosh outlet. I always loved children in overalls and never got her any and now that she's older and in potty age I think it would be unfair to start. The store did have cute overall jumpers on sale for $10 so I bought her two of them. In any case she chose the dress, matching headband, picked a tee/socks to match. I went to grab her white sneakers and she said "no no no mommy, Emme wants pink shoes please" and she proceeded to show me where there was pink in her dress. She then asked for a necklace, a pair of "eyes" (sunglasses) and the final result was adorable. It makes me happy that such small things bring her such great pleasure and a sense of accomplishment. She wasted no time telling her friends at school that she was wearing a new dress.