From Little Baby to Little Princess

"How's the tea?" I asked her. She stirred her cup and made a clicking sound with her tongue to signal that she was pretending to taste it. She decided it was satisfactory as she let out a loud "mmmmmm." She continued to stir her tea cup and pretended to eat a cookie, and then shared the imaginary tea and cookie with her stuffed dog "Smokey." Smokey was clearly enjoying the treat. I could tell because she made a rather long series of clicking sounds with her tongue as he ate and drank. Smokey finished his snack and she went on to arrange more spoons and plates in a very unusual, but precise, manner. I left the room and she went on playing tea party by herself for nearly 15 minutes before she returned to where I was and offered me more. She was just in time, I was quite thirsty again. Pretend tea tends to leave one parched.

I look at her these days, playing with her Little Tykes pink vanity, shopping with her cute yellow Little Tykes shopping cart filled with plastic food and a baby doll in the child seat at the front, and arranging her plastic tea set complete with spoons and a little tea pot. It seems like only yesterday her main form of entertainment was "peak a boo." My little baby is turning into a little princess. I don't know if she'll be prissy or a tom boy as she gets older. She still likes trucks and has no idea that the things she is playing with are "girl's toys." But the point is she is playing alone. She is taking more and more time to play by herself, and not missing me much at all (at least for a few minutes anyway). And while I enjoy the extra time to pick up or clean up or wash the dishes...It is still difficult watch your baby grow up.

She seems a lot like I was when I was a little girl. I could play for hours in my own little world. I loved to pretend and play dolls and house and read books. Its clear that Gracie already has an amazing imagination. She has been pretending for months. It started out as the clicking noise as she shared her juice with Barney--now she has intimate conversations with dolls, and occasionally at least one of the Barneys is invited to join (she has 5!).

My how she has grown and become a wonderful little person. So caring. We have noticed in the past month how sweet she is getting. She gives hugs and kisses for no reason, she kisses the babies on TV, and hugs every stuffed animal in her room at least once a day.

As much as I miss her baby clothes and her baby toys, I know that Garren and I have done a great job raising her. She is very smart and beautiful inside and out. Garren reminds me that we had her so she can have a strong and wonderful life--not so she could be a baby for the rest of her life. I usually agree and smile. What a wonderful lady she is going to make.

I have to go now, Gracie says I have a pretend phone call to answer. It sounds very important, maybe we will invite who ever it is over for tea this afternoon.

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