No More Babies

Oh, what a change a single phone call has wrought in my youngest.  Katie was asked to babysit at the upcoming Relief Society activity.  I had no idea the thoughts and feelings this would stir in her.  She was shocked that they thought she was old enough to watch other children.  "I can't believe I'm going to babysit," she said to me, over and over and over.  After two days of saying this, I responded, "But Katie, you watch your babies (dolls) all the time."  She gave me a look of complete disdain and said, "Mom, those aren't real babies,...and I'm thinking it's time I put them away.  I am growing up, you know, if people are asking me to babysit."  Now, it was my turn to be shocked.  Katie and her babies have been a part of our lives since, well, since Katie came into our family.  She LOVES her babies, and I have loved searching out for the very cutest ones and giving them to her and watching how she cares for them and names them and treats them so well and sleeps with them at night.  What a great mother she's going to be, I've thought over and over.

I was not prepared for her to hand off childhood so quickly, nor was I prepared when, two days later, she came to me and said, "Mom, the babies aren't in my bed anymore.  They're in the closet."  Her sister had helped her organize her room and the babies didn't make the cut.

I hugged her and said, "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah," she said, "they were taking up too much room in my bed, anyway, and I am growing up.  I'm going to be babysitting next week, you know."

Yes, I know.

"But don't worry, Mom.  I gave them a pillow to lean against and a blanket to cover them and they're all together so they aren't lonely."

Phew, there's my little girl.