We've been working with Issa for the past several weeks to try to teach her to tie her shoes. Every single time she puts her shoes on we go through all the steps of how to tie her shoes: First you make an x, tuck it under, pull tight! Then you make a bunny ear then the other bunny runs all the way around the tree then he ducks in the hole--pull tight! Kenneth and I always let her try it by herself before we do it for her, and when we're tying her shoes we do it slowly and make her walk us through the steps. We say, "What next Issa?" Then she tells us what to do.
Today she told me she wanted to put her shoes on all by herself. This isn't anything unusual . I said, "Okay, go ahead then." So she sat quietly in the middle of the floor, her little chubby fingers clutching her shoe strings and whispering the steps we've worked so hard to teach her to herself.
I walked away and watched out of the corner of my eye, minding my own business and holding my breath nervously. Is this it? Will she get it today? I had to bite my tongue to keep from reminding her how to do it. I had to let her do it herself. So I bit my tongue and held my breath and pretended not to watch her.
"The bunny goes in the hole, and then you......pull tight," Issa whispered. Then she yelled, "I did it! I did it!" And she sure did too! She did it. My three year old tied her shoes all by herself. Then she tied the other one. It took her five whole minutes, but she did it. My Issa tied her own shoes. All by herself. She's getting so big. I am so proud of her. I feel like I won the lottery. Who knew shoe-tying could be so emotional?
