I had one of those big parenting milestone moments on the weekend. We took the girls to McDonalds for breakfast (judge away!) and it was the first time ever that I've been able to sit down while my kids play.
J has always been timid and tends to do stuff like freeze on the steps to the slide while every other kid pushes past her. And little A, while no shrinking violet, has had her mobility issues holding her back. However, her walking has improved dramatically over the past few weeks.
There are so many puns I could use here (leaps and bounds, taking great strides, etc etc) that I'm actually trying to avoid them, can you believe that?
Anyway, A now toddles around by herself quite confidently, and, on the morning at McDonalds, once she was happy that I'd watched her climb the stairs to the slide a couple of times, she was off. And J was thrilled to have A to play with, which resolved her natural shyness. The squealing from them both was off the charts. Sorry, fellow patrons.
I stood around uselessly for a few moments. And then!
I sat down. I drank my coffee. Three years and two months into my life as a mother this was a HUGE moment.
Another milestone that hit me the other day was when J lost her beloved bunny. It's somewhere at kindy. Possible a metre below the surface of the sandpit. No one knows.
She has been taking bunny to kindy every day since she started last year, much to my frustration, because it always goes missing. She tosses it aside at some point during the day and every time I pick her up we have to go hunting for it. It's extremely tiresome but she absolutely will not leave bunny in the car.
I keep warning her that one day bunny will be lost and not found if she doesn't take care of it. And guess what happened.
Luckily we have a spare bunny, but the lost bunny is by far the favourite. At first I was pretty keen to make sure we got it back. But then it occurred to me. She's now three. Her dependence on bunny will naturally wane. We don't desperately have to find it, because she doesn't desperately rely on it the way she once did. She can have spare bunny for now and eventually, probably, spare bunny will sit on a shelf in her room. Whoa. Whoa.
For a toy that has been her constant companion for almost her whole life, that was a mind-boggling moment for me.
Look, I won't pretend that I don't feel occasionally wistful for my kids' babyhood which is rapidly ending. But I am so done with babies. I mean I was done with babies even before I had my own babies. If that makes sense. Basically: not a baby person.
So I really love these moments.
Turns out, everyone was right. They really do grow up. And I could not be more excited.
Edited to add: You guys! I wrote this in about ten minutes flat! I'm back!!
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