My Girl!

Parenthood really does change, just as soon as you think you have the hang of it! We are at a new stage...or at least the beginnings of it. My little girl is growing up. I realize that this sounds drastic, but quite frankly it FEELS drastic. I am not sure when it happened exactly, but I keep looking at Rose Marie and wondering where my little girl went.

Suddenly, she is confidently striking up conversations with older children and even adults. I catch myself listening very attentively to find out what is going to fly out of her little mouth. She loves to be responsible. Several times this week I have walked into a previously messy room to find that she had "surprised" me and cleaned it up without my asking her to do it, and she actually does a good job! She is incredibly affirming and I love her postitive feedback on my mothering. :)

But along with all of these positives, there is the other side to this growing up. Her worldview is getting broader. She is seeing, hearing and understanding things that were previously unnoticed or simply too difficult to understand. She wants to know what happens when we die. Will we all go to heaven at the same time? Why are there children in other parts of the world without food or mommies and daddies? Why does she have those things and they do not? Do you only get babies in your tummy AFTER the wedding, or can it sometimes happen before? Why do only big kids get to drive cars and not little kids? How long will it be before she can drive a car, because she is bigger than Sam, and therefore considered a big kid? When are we going to fly to England and talk to the Queen?

Yes, hard questions. I find myself getting exhausted by trying to be honest about all of these questions, without giving her information that she is still not ready for...like dying for instance.

It is a good time of growth, for her and for me. I am enjoying this new, older side of my daughter. I am loving seeing her personality continually take on a new form. It is truly fascinating. But, I still will miss these moments of her smallness and her innoncence. It is exciting and bittersweet, as every part of parenting seems to be. I love you Rose Marie, and I love watching you grow into your own unique, very inquisitive little self!