The Switch

Spring is my birth season. It brought my own birth and the birth of me, as a mother. With the shrill cry of my baby's first breath, I became a mom, got the laminated card and pre-paid my dues into the mommy club. It all started in the Spring.

I remember when McRae's first birthday arrived, just finding out I was pregnant with his brother, buying our first house and trying to take it all in. It was a lot to absorb, all in a month's time.

So I decided from then on, no more big events, birthdays or purchases were to take place around this time. It was already full. No more Spring babies, no more speeding tickets either, no more home buying (I barely missed this one with the purchase of our second home taking place in June)! No more!

My daughter has a different agenda than me though.

Yes, she was born dutifully in the Fall, like I had hoped. And the mere fact that she was a girl baby was also a sure sign that the universe was starting, finally, to throw me a bone.

But apparently she missed the part about not having any monumental changes take place at this time of year because seemingly overnight, she has stopped being a toddler and turned into a little girl.

I don't know why I didn't see the warning signs; the independent teeth brushing, the requests for a certain type of cereal in the morning, the insistence on privacy in the bathroom (although we all know that she has no modesty when she's finished).

Almost overnight she has been replaced by a little girl who does none of the things her toddler self did, at least not in the same way.

Little did I know that there would be a whole laundry list of new behaviors that were specific to little girls and not toddlers. Little did I know . . .

Little girls will giggle in their room with the door closed and yell, "No boys allowed!" Toddlers don't do that.

Little girls will stand in front of the mirror for several minutes brushing her hair to make it just right. Toddlers don't do that.

Little girls will walk across street to get the mail all by herself, looking both ways for a good five minutes to make sure there are no cars zooming up the cul-de-sac. Toddlers don't do that.

Little girls will write their full name, making no mistakes and have all the letters facing the same way. Toddlers don't do that.

Little girls will practice addition on their fingers. Toddlers don't do that.

Little girls will play Candyland without getting mad about not making it to Lollipop Forest first. Toddlers don't do that.

Little girls will also tuck in all her babies before herself at bedtime, paint her own fingernails with Hello Kitty sparkly fingernail polish, ride a bike with training wheels, climb up and down the bunk bed without assistance because, "Mommy, I am a big girl." Toddlers don't do that.

Little girls will give the dog a biscuit after telling him to "sit," draw all the people in her family, stand up for herself, and drink ginger ale.

The older I get, the more I wish time would just slow down. Not for me, but for my kids. Everything seems like it is happening so fast in their lives. This one is entering adolescence, that one is starting another baseball season and this one can almost swim without help in the pool.

Toddlers are being switched into little girls before my eyes!

July, 2006

Oh where, oh where did this toddler go? Oh where, oh where could she be?