Growing Up

While shopping today, Princess did/said two notable things.

The first happened while eating lunch at Culvers.  Right after we sat down, a soldier in uniform chose to eat his meal at a table near ours.  Princess was awed by the uniform and couldn't stop staring.  I told her that he was a soldier and that he helped take care of us all and keep us safe.  She wanted to go over right then and there and ask him a question.  "Will you help take care of us after lunch too?"  She also wanted to say thank you to him.  I wish I would've let her go, but I was so focused on getting the kids to eat so we could hurry and finish our shopping that I told her she could talk to him when we passed him on our way out.  I should've remembered one thing: that a man eating by himself takes less than half as much time to complete his meal as a very distractable toddler and preschooler.  Princess saw him leaving just as he headed out the door and was very upset that she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him.  But by then, it was too late.  I had missed the chance to finish teaching my daughter a very important lesson about the value of our military men and women.  She got half the lesson, but I think it would've meant so much more to her if she'd had the opportunity to talk to the soldier.

The second thing happened at Walmart while I was perusing my favorite section of the store, the baby department.  I was gushing over a pair of tiny adorable pink overalls hanging from the clearance rack.  Princess reached over from her seat in the cart to put her hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eye, and with as much sincerity as a three year old can muster, said, "I'm sorry, Mommy.  I'm not a baby anymore"
Please don't remind me.  As much as I love seeing my little ones grow, I miss the babies they used to be.  Little Man started walking on Father's Day and, while crawling is still faster and therefore the preferred method of movement, he seems so much more grown up to me now.  He is turning into a little boy right before my eyes.