Please Kids, Don’t Grow Up

On occasion I have caught myself tearing up, or even balling, watching my four girls grow up. I'll admit, when my girls mispronounce words, I don't correct them, because I love knowing they are still young. I don't want them growing up, and wish they could stay little forever!  

Let's start with my oldest. She's almost 7 and in first grade. Ahh school, where you start to actually care what people think about you. She will give me and her sisters hugs and kisses goodbye every morning. Then boom! A boy makes fun of her for being a baby and she stopped kissing us goodbye. How uncool to love your family. She was grossed out when I told her that boys makes fun of girls when they have crushes on them. At least she's not into boys yet. God help me when she is. 

 Next is my 4 year old. She is easily our most adventurous girl! When we go park, she jumps off of everything! It doesn't matter the height, but she always wants to have mommy or daddy there beneath her just in case she falls. Then one day as she jumped onto the monkey bars, she shouts "no mom! I'm gonna do it on my own" and I died a little inside. At least this girl is gonna be my skydiving buddy when turns 18.  

Now we have our 3 year old. She's the WILD child. So our children have all had a terrible habit of pulling "stuff" out of their diapers. So we took someone's advice to duct tape their diapers at bedtime. It's weird for sure, but it gets the job done. No messes for this mama to clean up. Recently she says to me "I'm a big girl now mom! I don't need duct tape anymore!" This is our life, and oddly I was sad to know that she's old enough not to have her diaper duct taped closed at night. Only time can tell if our fourth will break the duct tape cycle.

And our fourth baby, our precious little ginger. We've nicknamed her a the "therapy baby" because she knows how to make anyone happy. She is almost one now. All parents get sad when that first birthday sneaks up. What isn’t changing? Everyday is something new. Everyday makes you happy and sad all at the same time for them to learn something new. That first time crawling, eating, talking, or walking. My daughter just learned to drop it likes it hot to her favorite song "Havana" by Camila Cabello. I mean, it's adorable, but I sure hope she can unlearn that before she’s a teenager.  

As sad as it is to see your child grow up, remember to embrace the good, the bad, and the hilarious!