Penelope became a child today. I'm not sure how this manages to sneak up, but it does. Today is the day the switch flipped.
Maybe it was teaching her to play hide and seek this morning, when I told her to go into the kitchen and count to three, but after walking straight into the kitchen, she counted to ten instead. And then we played hide and seek for half an hour, taking turns while she giggled and gave herself away every time.
Maybe it was the way she walked into the house after coming home from the library, pushing the front door closed behind her before walking into the dining room, throwing her lunchbox on the table, climbing up into a chair and unlatching the box to finish her lunch before taking a nap. She closed it back up when I insisted, clicked both latches closed, and carried it up to her bedroom to have a little more while we read a book, sitting side by side on her carpet.
I definitely saw it when I woke her from her nap, she smiled when she saw me and spit the pacifier out into the bed without me asking her to do it. When I asked if she wanted to go to Luna's party, a smile broke out on her face and she told me she needed her lunchbox and a juice box. I suggested she also needed shoes. She said it's "not too cold outside," and that she "didn't need to bring a sweater." She then marched out the front door while I hurried to get shoes on my own feet and grab my things.
And then tonight, she played for hours with Micah and Luna. She helped them to color various projects Luna got for her birthday, she followed them around playing some kind of imaginary games of house and superheroes. They ran around in the dark, each with a tiny LED flashlight, her trailing behind and fully immersed in the game. When the big kids climbed onto the trampoline, she walked across the pitch black yard, came into the house and asked me to help her up onto the trampoline too. And when it was time to leave, she gave Luna a hug and told her "Happy Birthday!"
This house holds no more babies. And that's okay. She still snuggled up against my chest while I sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star before putting her to bed. I'll hold on to that as long as possible.
Maybe it was teaching her to play hide and seek this morning, when I told her to go into the kitchen and count to three, but after walking straight into the kitchen, she counted to ten instead. And then we played hide and seek for half an hour, taking turns while she giggled and gave herself away every time.
Maybe it was the way she walked into the house after coming home from the library, pushing the front door closed behind her before walking into the dining room, throwing her lunchbox on the table, climbing up into a chair and unlatching the box to finish her lunch before taking a nap. She closed it back up when I insisted, clicked both latches closed, and carried it up to her bedroom to have a little more while we read a book, sitting side by side on her carpet.
I definitely saw it when I woke her from her nap, she smiled when she saw me and spit the pacifier out into the bed without me asking her to do it. When I asked if she wanted to go to Luna's party, a smile broke out on her face and she told me she needed her lunchbox and a juice box. I suggested she also needed shoes. She said it's "not too cold outside," and that she "didn't need to bring a sweater." She then marched out the front door while I hurried to get shoes on my own feet and grab my things.
And then tonight, she played for hours with Micah and Luna. She helped them to color various projects Luna got for her birthday, she followed them around playing some kind of imaginary games of house and superheroes. They ran around in the dark, each with a tiny LED flashlight, her trailing behind and fully immersed in the game. When the big kids climbed onto the trampoline, she walked across the pitch black yard, came into the house and asked me to help her up onto the trampoline too. And when it was time to leave, she gave Luna a hug and told her "Happy Birthday!"
This house holds no more babies. And that's okay. She still snuggled up against my chest while I sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star before putting her to bed. I'll hold on to that as long as possible.
