More on Independence

A few weeks ago, one night I was in the kitchen putting the last touches on cooking dinner. Shreya had been milling around me earlier in the evening, but had gone off somewhere by then. Tom was getting plates and things to set the table. Gathering them all, he walked into the dining room, and I heard him say, "Did you put Shreya into her high chair?"
"No, " I said, "didn't you?"
But there she was, sitting in her chair, all ready to eat, even though neither of us had put her there. She was even buckled in. Unbelievable as it seemed, she must have achieved this herself! Here's a picture. She looks pleased with herself, doesn't she?

The next day, armed with the camera on video mode, I tried to coax her into repeating the performance. And sure enough...

Needless to say, since then, she always insists on getting into her chair by herself. She has now also perfected the technique of getting into her car seat and strapping herself in. (Hopefully we will catch this on film before she is tired of it!) Fortunately she hasn't figured out how to undo any of these buckles (yet!)