I did it!” I exclaimed to myself at 5.15 am on Monday. I was alone in our living room en route to the toilet when I paused to look at the time. I was proud of myself. I had managed to clock in about five hours of sleep on the guest bed. It may not sound like much, but it was the first time I had ever managed to sleep alone under our roof. I had battled the separation anxiety that had, until then, prevented me from even attempting such a feat. But I had a sore throat and was prone towards coughing. We had already been through two weeks of restless nights because our toddler had an ear infection, then a cold, then a cough. I wanted to relinquish the fear of waking my partner or my toddler up with my coughing, so chose not to co-sleep.

I laughed when I heard myself say I did it, because it is something our toddler says each time he successfully completes a task independently. It doesn’t matter to him whether he did it well, or on time, or even to his own satisfaction or ours. If he breaks an egg into a bowl and then scrambles it with an eggbeater, he’ll exclaim, “I did it”. If he washes his hands and mouth on his own, he’ll announce his success. The other day, as I was cooking, he managed to un-assemble and then re-assemble to perfection a 24-piece puzzle featuring a firefighter rescue scene. It is meant for children older than 3 years. He quietly sat by himself and completed the frame first, then the middle, and when he was done, he said, “I did it!” I felt awe.