Now we are…TWELVE?

March 29, 2008 /

monkey003Really? How did that happen? How did my tiny little baby turn, seemingly overnight, into a lovely young woman?

For some reason, this birthday seems more real than those in our past, like Maya is passing some cusp between childhood and adulthood. I do realize that she’s more than 1/2 way there, but it’s not really that. I guess this whole year has felt this way…what with middle school and so on. I see some of the girls, looking like women already. I see kids with phones and makeup, boyfriends and giggles, and all of the other trappings of teenager hood, and all I can think is, really? Already? And I’m starting to see why people warn you about how fast time flies, and why it just speeds up as your child grows older. Pretty soon we’ll be at warp factor 9, and life around us will be nothing more than a blur. Pretty soon she’ll be wanting to drive and date and stay out past midnight with her friends. Pretty soon she’ll be doing math problems that are beyond my ability to help with. Soon enough, she’ll be working at a summer job for money to buy clothes and music and whatever is cool in a few more years. And that time will be wonderful. I do look forward to seeing the young woman she will become. Someone who works hard, has self-esteem and character, and who turns the boys heads when she walks by. I can see that young woman already, in the girl she is today.

So for now, now that she’s still a ‘tween’, I’m going to hang on and enjoy this time. I’m going to enjoy her still being more of a girl than a woman, still wanting to be my baby sometimes. Still wanting to cuddle at bedtime. I’m going to enjoy those glimpses of the baby she once was, and the little girl she has more recently left behind, those glimpses that I catch out of the corner of my eye, which make my breath catch in my throat and think, really? Already?

(Happy Birthday Sweetheart!)

UPDATE: Ted put together a nice slideshow of Maya’s life thus far.  You can see it on his blog, here.

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