We're both learning...

I'm not even sure where to start because I'm still hoping it's just a full moon...or you hung out with a new kid at school today.

But when I dropped you off this morning - you were 4.

And when I picked you up, you seemed 13.

As you ran towards the door at daycare, amidst a few of your friends, you were giggling uncontrollably and seemingly unaware of Preston and I behind you and my need for us to walk orderly to the parking lot.

You're learning that you really WILL be okay if you're not always holding my hand.

On the way home, you fussed and grunted; tried communicating to me through anger with bursts of loud noises and more grunts. When I told you "I don't speak that language" you continued and demanded I "turn the music on right now."

You're learning we may not always speak the same language and at times it will feel like we're on two different planets.

I told you, in a VERY stern voice, not to speak to me that way and reminded you you knew how to ask nicely for something you wanted. I got....silence. (The key here is silence...not tears, as you normally would have cried with that tone.)

And that's when MY eyes welled up with tears as I drove us all towards the house.

You're learning you won't always feel like saying it nicely. You won't always feel like cooperating. And you want always feel like being told what to do.

I'm learning that you are becoming YOU.

That doesn't mean I think today's behavior is the new you, but it does foreshadow what's ahead of us darling.

You are going to grow into a person separate from me and your dad. You will have your own likes and dislikes, some we relate to and many we won't. We will laugh together, but we will also argue.

Yet one thing will always remain: we love you more. We will ALWAYS love you more our sweet peach.

I love you,
Mom