Monday, February 06, 2006

Little A is changing

Little A has always been a kid who burns off more calories having a simple conversation than most adults burn off all day. She bounces off walls, ceilings and and unsuspecting furniture just telling you that she got to go outside for recess. Most of her sentences start, "Ok, you pretend you're..." or "Pretend I'm _______, who are you going to be?" She never tires of imagination games and can rarely glue her butt to the chair for more than 10 minutes, unless it's to draw a book.

Lately, I've noticed a calming in her. And apparently, this little shift is only something that someone like a mother who watches her scrupulously would notice. I've mentioned it to N several times, and he claims he doesn't see it. I asked her dad if he noticed that she's a little calmer, and he didn't really think so. L was over last night, and I'm dying to call her to see if she noticed. She's a mother, so she might have seen it.

For instance, in Superbowls past, I can vividly remember trying to appease Little A so that I could watch the game. I'd play with her on commercials, turn off the game and dance for certain intervals, draw with her, play card games, and still she was never satisfied. She needed constant imagination and fun, and this stupid football game was really distracting mommy from giving that to her.

Last night though, she was perfectly content to sit there on the couch, snuggled up in her footy pajamas and chit-chat. She didn't stand and bounce like a tigger on every 5th syllable, she didn't once ask me to pretend something (although she did proclaim the living room the "Hogwart's TV room"), she didn't even take me up on my offer to read to her during the commercials. She just sat and talked like any other gasp, sob, heave grownup. I can only take solace in the fact that she ate 4 gigantic cookies, and clutched a stuffed cat and a Hello Kitty purse through the whole game.
I should be happy, I know. She's growing up so very nicely and becoming a more wonderful little person everyday. She's clever, she's smart, she's creative, kind-hearted, sensitive, funny, and beautiful. But....................but........................but...................................
She's growing up. I suppose I should've expected this. I grew up, shouldn't I have expected that she might too? But the seductions of childhood are fleeting. And they're turning me into a big motherly drama queen.

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Isn't it funny how some changes in your children are immediate and expected, while some are more imperceptible?
I imagine as a mother, it's the gradual changes that are more difficult to accept because one day you look and everything is completely different and you haven't had a chance to prepare yourself.

11:08 AM  
Blogger Tink said...

My Mom used to press down on my head to try and stop me from growing up. It obviously didn't work ;). There are always going to be things that you miss about your kids' little self. But there are so many wonderful changes to look forward to too!

11:39 AM  
Blogger Shel said...

Uh, I soooooooo feel for you. I hate the feeling of knowing that she will be out of the house in only 8 years......I hate knowing that soon she won't be watching any cartoons.........I wish that I could just go back 7 more years or so and take in every moment more than I did...I think about it every day. Every damn day.

12:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can't believe Big-A has just turned 4. I still look at pictures of her as a baby and wonder where the time went, and now my actual "baby" is 16 months old. I agree with TB, I think that the hardest changes are the ones you wake up to over time, like "when did she learn to do that -- how could I have not seen it before??" The ones that tell you without a doubt that your kid is growing up. *sigh*

1:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I must be a Zen mom. I always think the current age is the best age yet.

1:44 PM  
Blogger mamatulip said...

It's so bittersweet, isn't it? *sigh*

2:38 PM  
Blogger Brooke said...

But I love the lovely way you write about it. Does that help?

9:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, but you'll have different adventures now, with her. Perhaps even as exciting and seductive.

I think it's sweet and shows what a good mother you are that you watch your daughter so closely.

I hope if I'm ever a mother (gulp) I am as attentive and loving.

1:13 PM  
Blogger The Gradual Gardener said...

My dad always threatened to put a brick on my head, to stop me from growing up too fast. Now I use the same line on my daughter.

2:07 PM  
Blogger V said...

I beg her to stop growing as well, but she just looks at me like a luney. She *does* get better and better...so her changes don't bother me so much like that. It's nice that she'll sit and talk to me for hours and read in bed next to me and I love to watch her learn and work out new things everyday, but....It's more that I think I'm getting to be one of those crazy people who feels like time is just slipping away from them. Maybe its some kind of pre-mid-life crisis?!

8:13 AM  

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