she's all growns up

Ahhhh.... I love the movie Swingers, anyone else? Anyhow, no mom, that's not a type-o, it's from a movie... I know it's poor grammar.

The point is, The Babe is getting so big. In the past couple of weeks there have been two major incidents that have proven that fact to me, and I find I am just not ready.

The first incident came when The Babe announced that she thought it was time she have a hair cut. I have always kept her hair long. She has such lovely hair, always has, that we just kept it growing and growing and growing. She did not have her first haircut until after she was 3, not even one strand was touched before then. Since that time, we have always kept it long, at least mid-back. A couple of weeks ago, as it came close to her bottom, she decided she wanted it cut. I told her she could cut it however she chose, since she's 5 now. She's a big girl. This was a very difficult thing for me to let go of, but I was able to do it with the support of my friends. I know it's silly, but I didn't want to let go of her beautiful hair. Bottom line though, it's not my hair.

The Babe decided she wanted it pretty short, at least as far as I was concerned. I mentioned that if we were going to cut that much off, maybe we could donate it to Locks of Love, and we measured her hair. You need 10 inches to donate, and it turns out The Babe did not want to cut that much off. But, when we got to the salon, she changed her mind. We cut her hair shorter than we had planned because she had decided that she wanted a sick child to have hair to wear (as she puts it). Oh, it's so much shorter than I wanted, but how could I say no? What a wonderful thing she did! And you know what? Her new 'do is adorable. It makes her look a bit older, but I am not sure if I think that because she actually looks older physically, or if I now perceive her as older because she did such a giving, generous, and mature thing.

The second thing that proves to me that she's all growns up is that she is losing her first tooth. I was really not prepared for this! I thought that happens when they're, I don't know, 7 years old? Anyhow, not now! Not to my baby! But there it is, she's losing one of her bottom middle teeth. It's loose, and there is already a new tooth growing in behind it. A few more days and it's gone. The tooth that is loose is actually the first tooth that The Babe got, which I guess is only fair, but it also means I have a weird, sentimental attachment to it. I remember so vividly when it first appeared, looking just like a tiny piece of rice on her gums. I remember I was a bit sad that she was getting teeth already (she had just turned 6 months old), because I would be losing that beautiful toothless grin of hers. I remember I spent a whole day taking oodles of pictures of her before her tooth came in and ruined it all, LOL. And now, here I am, just as sad that the tooth is leaving us. *sigh* It's hard to be a mom....

She's all growns up. Next month... college.