Sleep Overs

"Little girls are cute and small only to adults.
To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized." - Margaret Atwood

   Tonight marks our second attempt at a sleepover. The first one went smooth and this one so far is going well. They played into the evening, had a good dinner, and then we all went crazy on building our frozen yogurts. A little television and then jammy time before we sent them off to the big bed on the floor. As pictured above, they needed some story time. When our 'Lil Miss's friend went to the restroom, The Wife crawled over to lay next to our sweet girl. Our sweet girl got all embarrassed and shyly pushed The Wife away exclaiming in a quiet voice, "Mommy, go! She coming back!" 

   You spend so much time being there for them when they need you, it comes as a bit of a shock when they're embarrassed by you. It was all in sweet fun, so there was no real harm done. More of a cute observation to see her trying to be so independent. She's 7YO, so if this is the tip of the iceberg,....then "ICEBURGGGGGG AHEEEAAAADDD!!!" No, really. Next is what, dropping her off at the corner for her to walk the rest of the way to school? I realize that the time is here to give my firstborn a little more independence. I don't want her clinging to us or anything (well,....uhhh, do I have to make that statement now?). So we judiciously choose which scenarios to incorporate a bit more freedom. She's not running errands to the store across the major intersection yet, but we've seen opportunity to try in different circumstances. 

   That's it then. What my mother went through when I finally was out of her hands. College, abroad, and such. She spent all those years guarding, protecting, teaching, and then trying to let go. I asked her recently when it ended for her. Her response could have been predicted by a stranger. "It still hasn't", was her reply. 

   And so it begins...

J.