Gaining Independence

My two year old believes she can do everything alone. Last night, she refused help to get her pajamas pants on for bed. This morning she took my cereal bowl to the sink, reached up on her tippy toes and tossed it in. All this with the tag hanging off her bum (she put her pants on inside out.) She repeated the favor for her sister and then took care of her own as well. Do you suppose she understood when I explained to her sister what chores she needed to complete to earn her allowance and she wants in on the cut? hmmm.
When I came to occupy my usual space on the reclining couch, she came over to kiss my tummy better, "Tummy hurts?" she asks as she hands me my water bottle. "There you go, Mama." she says with a sweet smile. She'll make a great nursemaid some day.
Now she is toting her doll and "maken" around the house in her platform flip flops that she put on by herself to go out and check on the kitty who was meowing for some food. Her sister beat her to the job though. As she flip flops her way out of the room she waves, "Goodbye, Mama!" And off she goes to join her sister in watching PBS or Disney Channel in the office/playroom.
And then there's the potty training adventures. For a couple of nights, she has gone potty before bed and woken up with a dry diaper! Yeah! She gets to earn a sticker each time she goes for her chart. The chart is sporadically decorated now. Some days are better than others. Last night she had to get out of bed to try and go for the third time before finding success. It may have been a ploy to avoid going to bed on time, but she did go that last time. Thus the inside out pants job.
My hope for this marvelous metamorphasis is not great with the impending change to come in the next couple of weeks. She is bound to regress. We are bound to start over from stage one. Or is she trying to show me that she really is ready for her little brother to come into the world? Time will tell.