Growing Girl

Why oh why do they have to keep growing?

This was the second tooth lost for Megan, and we had more drama this go-round, too.  She swallowed it in the middle of the night while she was sleeping.  We think this is what happened, but did not fully investigate this theory!

The loss of this big tooth has catapulted Megan into big kid territory.  I'm ill-equipped and unprepared for this stage of parenthood. Is it so wrong to expect them to stay little forever, baby teeth and all?

I'm happy to say there are some wonderful perks to this big kid gig, though.  At nearly 7, Megan has outgrown much of the tantrums, drama and unpredictable emotional messes that marked the 5-6 age span for her.  She's truly come into her own this year, and is so cool in her own skin.  She loves school, is a friend to everyone, never has a bad word to say about anyone (unless you count Bridget, but I can't blame her most of the time, with the button-pushing that goes on there), and is growing more and more confident every day.  And she reads!!  I'm not exaggerating when I say that she plows though a chapter book a day.  In fact, most days she completes more than one book.  Her current favorites are the Magic Treehouse series, Nancy Drew Clue Crew books and the Rainbow Fairy series.  This transition to being an independent reader seemed to happen overnight right before her Christmas break.  Suddenly, she was walking around the house reading aloud with a book in front of her nose, a la Belle.  So cute!  At that point, she would ask for help with words at least once per page.  Now, she can read for up to 15 minutes before she needs help with a word like "cautiously."  She even told me, "Mommy, I don't even want to play with the iPad anymore.  All I want to do is read."



Of course, she has played with the iPad plenty since making that statement, but she truly does enjoy reading so much.  She begs to go to the bookstore, and pleads to stay up later so she can finish "one more chapter, please!!"  I can't resist either one of those requests, so we've been making our way to Barnes and Noble quite a bit, and burning through some flashlight batteries at night here.  And, now that she reads so well, you can bet she wants to show it off to anyone who will listen...

She's even started writing her own Magic Treehouse book.  Here she is deep in thought before settling on a time and place for her beloved Jack and Annie to travel.

When she's not begging to read, she's begging to do the dishes!  I could get used to this big kid thing.

She's an awesome big sister.  I mean, just look at this:

Tessa had just stubbed her toe, and Megan immediately put her arms around her.  They walked like this for two blocks on the way to Bridget's basketball practice.  She's so sensitive to the younger girls' needs, especially when I'm busy.  In this case, I was carrying Mary and schlepping our bag full of snacks and entertainment for the sidelines of the basketball court.  My arms were full of baby and apples and juice boxes, so she filled in for me with a sympathetic hug.  She does this a lot, and I know she's wise beyond her years as a little mommy in the making.

I can't end this post without some more toothless shots.  As much as I didn't want her to lose her baby teeth, I'm loving this look right now.  It's adorable!