Magoo and I were looking at a painting of a woman this weekend. She was talking about how it was a beautiful painting, and I told her that maybe she could paint it herself. She told me it would take her a very long time because she doesn’t know how to do those types of paintings yet because she’s still a kid.
Looking into her eyes, I was taken aback at the two different people staring back at me — the little girl emerging from toddlerhood who she has been, and the young lady who she is very fast becoming. Her speech said it all — she had the language of a young lady combined with the occasional grammar slip up of a little girl.
I asked her which she was — a big girl or a little girl. She told me she was a little girl because she still doesn’t know everything like I do. (Man do I have her fooled!)
But it made me think about how childhood is a state of being constantly in between. And I can see that clearly in my three girls.
There is Magoo who is on the verge of becoming a bigger kid if not quite yet a big kid.
And there is the Goose who constantly switches between little kid and baby. I’ll see her playing with MAgoo, talking to me, or looking through a book, and I’ll think how quickly she is leaving babyhood behind. And then she’ll skin her knee or get scared of something on tv, and the way she runs into my arms and lays on my lap crying, needing comfort, reminds me that there is still a significant part of her that is still (thankfully) my little baby.
And then there’s Mae, currently the runt of our little litter. Looking at her, I’m reminded of just how quickly the newborn phase passes. Being a preemie, she’s still a bit more of a newborn than her sisters were at this age with her fists still clenched and her almost constant need for sleep, but her increasing attention span and her early attempts at vocalization remind me that this time is fleeting and she is fast moving towards the next stage.
I don’t know what all of these future stages hold for us, but I’m glad for the time being at least that we haven’t completely moved past where we are today. The future holds a lot of promise, but the present is just as sweet.
P.S. I apologize for the crappy photo quality. I left my DSLR home this weekend not wanting it to get ruined on our trip, and I quickly learned how different the quality is between that and my old digital.