Delaney, my first, my oldest, is turning seven tomorrow. I’m boggled. Seven! I tell you, it truly feels like yesterday I was potty training her, stuck at home for naps, guiding her every step so that she didn’t bonk into sharp corners… And tomorrow, she’s seven.

She really has become a little lady. Actually, Delaney cultivates that change. She wants so badly to grow up. She watches teenagers, agog, star-struck by their worldliness and independence. And I think that is the reason she pushes and pulls me so much. I have come to call this phase, “Come here come here come here! Go away go away go away!” She wants me, and she wants to be free of me.

Delaney expresses herself with her clothing choices, loves curling her hair, and generally enjoys being a girl! Honestly, I am baffled often by her. But I try to honor it.

So, as she steps into this new age, I find myself grieving a bit for the little girl who used to be only “Come here!” and I try to enjoy the times when she is “Go away!”

But I do find myself soaking up and delighting in the little signs that my baby is still ‘in there.’ Yesterday, I hollered to have her come to the table and do homework. I waited as I heard jumping jumping jumping coming from her room and then Delaney emerged around the corner, hopping all the way from her room because… well, because it’s fun! It’s those moments that remind me that she is still my baby. She still hops.