My daughter is absolutely the most amazing thing to me. She has taught me forgiveness in ways that I could never imagine. I am like every cliché mother out there, “I never want her to grow up.” Which is true 95% of the time and the rest of the time I bask in the excitement of the fact that I will only be 39 when she is moving out for college! I will still be young!! Ha!!
Honestly, I love her being my baby. No matter how old she is, she will always be my baby girl. I love that even though she is three now, she still wants to curl up with us to sleep or let me lay on the couch and hold her like a small baby. She eats it up. (; However, I would never want to hinder her growth and learning for my selfish reasons of wanting to keep her my baby. I love for her to learn and find new things. She receives comments about how smart she is many times when we are at her pediatrician or out and about in town. Her preschool evaluates her progress based on where they want children her age to be and she is ahead. That makes me so proud of her.
With all of that being said, it is obvious, I know that she is growing up. She is changing every single day, but as we live in the moment we do not always pay attention to the little changes until they all hit us as a big moment at once. That is what happened to me one day last week.
I always call on my lunch to check on her and see how she did at school that day, etc. Sometimes she is asleep, but lately she has been up and playing. Of course, she is now three and gradually naps are fewer and fewer. That may also be because the grandparents and great-grandparents who watch her Monday through Thursday do not always make her take a nap. Guess what I deal with later…..
Back to the other day: I called my grandparents’ and asked how she was, how did they say she had been at school, etc. My Granny asked, “do you want to talk to her for a minute?” I said sure thinking she would talk 30 seconds and give the phone back and run off to play.
We talked for 5 minutes. My three year old and I, on the phone having continuous full sentence conversation for 5 minutes. When we got off of the phone I cried. Not a sobbing cry, but a my-heart-swelling-with-love-I-just-realized-how-grown-up-and-intelligent-she-is kind of tears in my eyes. A happy and sad cry all at the same time. I know how smart she is, but with the continuous day in and out, the way your child grows up can sneak up on you. It definitely did for me this time.
Here was our phone conversation:
My Daughter: “Hey, mama!”
Me: “Hey baby. Are you being good?”
My Daughter: “Yes. Hey, mama, I love you, mama.”
Me: “Aw, Khlo I love you too!”
My Daughter: “Mama, I miss you.”
Me: “I miss you too baby. Did you have fun at school today?”
My Daughter: “Yes, mama! I play outside!”
Me: “You did??!”
My Daughter: “YES! And we learn about rain and dirt today.”
Me: “That’s awesome. Are you being good for granny?”
My Daughter: “Yes. I play with Auburn!” (Auburn is my grandparents’ dog.)
My Daughter: “I eat a Zebra Cake!!”
Me: “Alright! Did granny give that to you?”
My Daughter: “Yep. Hey, mama. I love you. Is my daddy at home?”
Me: “He will be when I pick you up and we go home.”
My Daughter: “I miss my daddy, but I miss you too!”
Me: “I miss you. We will see daddy after I get off work. Did you eat your lunch today?”
My Daughter: “And I eat my MOON PIEEEEE!”
Me: “I’m glad. Have you taken a nap?”
My Daughter: “Nope. I not yawned yet.”
Me: “Will you take a nap?”
My Daughter: “I playing, mommy.”
Me: *sigh* “Okay, you better be good for Granny.”
My Daughter: “I will Mommy. Would you like to speak to my Granny?”
Me: “Uh sure. I love you.” (After I was speechless at how adult-like my three year old daughter sounded.)
My Daughter: “I love you too Mommy. Here’s Granny. Bye.”
There was more to the conversation when we talked about school like who came to class today and all of that. But all of the rest was basically how our conversation flowed. Here is the little girl who changed my life and is my baby, but who can now carry on a full conversation with me. I’m so proud of her and cannot wait to take on each experience as she continues to grow. I know at times it will make me a little sad, but I cannot wait to meet who she will become at each stage of her life.
My beautiful daughter in her three year birthday pictures.
Southern Mom Life 