A Little Taste of Freedom

I've been trying really had not to be a helicopter parent. It's not easy to not hover over your child all the time. It's really hard to be patient and let your child do things, like get dressed, etc. Cole has never gone through the "I do it!" stage, which makes it easy for me to just do things for him. Lately we've been trying to get him to dress and undress himself, get his coat on, you know, the typical every day things. We've been trying to get him to be a little more independent. So far it's going fairly well, and surprise surprise, he's still alive and unharmed! A few days ago, before the big snow and cold, I let him stay outside after chores and play, by himself. He has discovered he can take his pants of "by self" and has been doing a lot of it lately. Here's how he's dressed today. He started out with pants on.
First we have the football hat, also known as a basketball hat, but never a baseball hat. Then we have boxing mitts followed by basketball boots.