Here She Grows Again

by Leslie

Now and then, I am struck by how much Julia has grown in such a short amount of time. Given, all children grow and at roughly the same pace for the most part, it isn’t until you’re a parent that it becomes so meaningful. And just like extra pounds you put on over a few months, you may not notice the growth day by day. Sometimes it sneaks up on you and it isn’t until you try to pull on your favorite jeans that you realize you’ve gotten bigger. Today it was overwhelmingly obvious that Julia has gotten bigger: she wanted cow milk rather than breast milk.

And that’s not all.

This morning, we went into the bathroom and there were towels on the floor. Without any prompting, Julia scooped them up off the floor and took them to the hamper. I thanked her for being so helpful. “You’re welcome,” she replied with such coolness, I stood there frozen for a moment.

Later, we were getting ready to head to the library and I couldn’t find my keys. As I looked, I asked Julia if she’d seen them. She quickly joined my search and within minutes, she came up with the keys. ”Here it is,” she proclaimed, jingling the keys high in the air. I thanked her again for being such a great helper.

Later, she asked for a banana. I said, “Okay, let me get it. I’ll peel it for you.”

“I do it, Mommy.” She reached up, grabbed the banana and proceeded to take it to the table where she peeled it and ate it. Then, she picked up the peel and threw it away, all on her own.

Next, she wanted to color. I set her up with a coloring book and crayons at the table. She picked a page from the book and tore it out. She took the crayons out of their storage container and lined them up on the table. After studying her coloring page, she carefully chose her crayons, strategically applying each color to a specific area of the page. Once she was finished, she brought me her completed product, “For you, Mommy. It’s a dolphin.”

I gushed over her work, pointing out my favorite details - the orange sun, the blue water. “Oh, hold on,” she said as she skipped back to the table. I watched her pick up her crayons and put them in the storage container. She closed her coloring book, picked it up along with her crayons and took them to a nearby shelf to put them away.

I was floored. When did my helpless little baby turn into such a helpful little girl? It seemed like it happened overnight.

True to toddler form, this burst of maturity and responsibility will only last a short while. After surging forward, she’ll spring back for a reprieve before heading out again. Tomorrow, when she throws her food at the table and takes a big bite out of her crayon, I’ll likely be wondering what happened to my big girl. Still, today she behaved more like a big girl than ever before and I am so proud of the way she is growing.

Posted in Mommy's Stuff, Julia |