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Your growth spurts as an infant were marked by an increased volume of sleep. I thought it was an old wives' tale, but it's true. Weeks you required a third nap or pushed your bedtime up by an hour, I knew your little body was busy growing.


But now as a toddler-girl, I miss the signs of growth until they smack me in the face. This week, after I had spent seven days away from you, just then you have grown. You refuse to sit in your booster chair at the dinner table. You no longer wear a bib. You have no patience for sippy cups. And, you clear your own dishes.


Last night you yelled to me from upstairs, Mom I have something to tell you! I was startled by the words and the urgency. Certainly, someone else in my home was speaking to me from far away. How could it possibly be you?

Mom, I have something to tell you. The Beagle has a bug bite on his knee.


You vacillate between baby and girl more than ever. In the evenings after bathtime, you request being swaddled like a baby and carried to your bed for pajama time. It's the same every night. You give me the fake "wah-wah" cry you use when you mother your dolls. You suck your thumb, and ask for your bottle. So, I talk to you in a babying voice, calling you my baby, and swaying you back and forth. It's enough for me, and right now, it's all I need.

You can spend the rest of the day being my girl.
Thanks for still being my baby.