I told you he was independent!

At our house, Wednesday is often "date night". Ed and I head out after the kids are in bed, but we tell Connor beforehand as the first time we snuck out, he woke up - which he had not done in months - and insisted the au pair walk him throughout every corner of our home confirming we were, indeed, gone before he would go back to bed.

Last night at dinner, Connor announced:
"Tonight I'm going out with my friends after you go to bed."
"Oh really? Where are you going to go?"
"Probably to California."
"Wow. That's a big trip. How are you going to get there - by plane or train."
"Car."
"Who's going to do the driving?"
"My friend is."
"This must be a really big friend. How old is he?"
"He's 3."
"Well...have fun, I guess."

We also had to implement a new rule in our home - no exiting the physical structure without mentioning it to an adult. A few days ago, Ed got a package in the mail. It contained bike gear. Upon seeing the open box in the morning, Connor decided to put the bike pump where it belongs - in the shed. So, while Ed was changing Helen's diaper, Connor went out the front door, put the bike pump away, and grabbed the newspaper - because heck, he was already outside, might as well get that job taken care of as well. Ed came back to the living room to find Connor waiting patiently outside the front door (he's tall enough to get out, but not in) requesting to be let back in. I suppose we also could've implemented the rule "put your crap away at night so the toddler doesn't have to take care of it the next morning!".