How independent is your child?

I can't believe how independent Talitha is or wants to be. I guess it is good but the girl fights me on every front. Now she is eating she will not let anyone feed her anything so we are going through lots of clothes each day. I know that a bib would be a great idea but she won't allow one on or if I get one on her she takes it off. I managed to tie a tea towel around her neck the other day and that kind of worked but I don't have enough tea towels and she took it off half way through and wiped her tray down anyway. With her tube feeds she wants to plug it in but doesn't have the fine motor skills to do it, wants to hold the bottle but spills it if she does, wants to hold the syringe .....I let her hold the bottle once it is empty and let her put the lid back on and let her hold the syringe and tube once I have finished her feed but she is not really totally happy with that.

The only pair of shoes she had that she can put on by herself is her crocs and it has been below zero here - not weather for crocs - so we have a fight about socks and shoes because she wants to do it. If I put a shirt on her and she is cranky she will take it off again and try to put it on herself, same with pants, pj's etc. She is getting close to being able to do these things but just can't manage it yet. I have to really lay down the law with her and tell her I am going to dress her whether she likes it or not and then she kind of lets me.

She wants to put DVD's on herself but gets them the wrong side up sometimes and then we have a fight about that. She wants to blow her own nose, wipe her own face, clean her own high chair (yes, I am encouraging these and helping her). She wants to do her own hair, to wash her own hair in the bath, to dry herself.....each nappy change is a fight and I suspect that she wants to do that too.

I know independence is good but OMG this kid is really testing me

This too shall pass......ehehe she'll turn into a teenager one day and you'll be back to being a slave again Mind you, this is pure speculation having not had any teenagers of my own! (yet) - feel free to correct me on that one!

I wish my 8yr old was independent. He still wants me to get breakfast for him!

Cas