Being a grown-up is fun???

     Do you remember the days where you couldn't wait to "grow up"? I remember saying it countless times in numerous situations: "When I grow up I won't______(fill in the blank with whatever parenting thing I swore I would never do)". "I can't wait to be a grown up." "I am NOT a kid anymore" (when actually I totally was). We all did it. We ALL couldn't wait to be grown up. MAN, do I ever wish sometimes I could call a "take back". What the heck was I so excited for? Work? Bills? Taxes? Stress? Worry? Oh yeah.....being a grown up is SOOO much fun, right? (insert sarcastic laughter here.) 

     Now, don't get me wrong. I love who I am right now. I love being a wife and a mother. I love having rights that "Grown Ups" get, like the right to vote etc. BUT......I wish I had really slowed down a little, maybe APPRECIATED the time I got to be a kid a little bit more. Maybe spending less time dreaming about what I would do when I was a "grown up".

     Being Isabella's Mommy gives me the opportunity to relive some of my childhood all over again. I love getting down on the floor and playing "Barbies" with her - something I couldn't just do on my own as an adult without the need for SERIOUS counseling. I love having coloring contests with her and playing games like Chutes and Ladders or Hop Skotch. But more than doing those things myself, I love WATCHING her get to experience her childhood. Nothing is better than seeing her face light up when the Ice Cream Truck appears on our street. I get goosebumps when she reads a new word all by herself for the first time. I can't help but smile watching her play T-Ball in a too big t-shirt wearing a HUGE batting helmet. I love the pride on her face when she makes contact with the ball and gets a "hit". My favorite thing is listening to her tell me about what she wants to be when she grows up or when she asks me to tell her about what she was like when she "was little". 

T-Ball: "I have to hold that big old helmet on when I run, Mom!"

     She has told me, on more than one occasion, that she doesn't want to grow up yet. She likes being a little kid. That makes me exceedingly happy. While I love watching her grow into an independent young lady who can do things "all by myself", I love getting to watch her be little. So I tell her that growing up is inevitable and that there are SOOO many fun things she will get to do and experience as she grows. I also tell her to enjoy every minute of being little. Cause she is right, it is SUPER fun being a kid! 

A quick cuddle with my favorite girl!

     So for now, I am going to go and scoop up that sweet little girl and cuddle her on my lap (while she will still let me) and read her a story and enjoy the time she gets to be little. And I will let THAT part of being a grown up, the fun part, even out all the not so fun parts. Really, because that is all that truly matters.