Transition

I took a class at church and since the girls are homeschooled, we had no choice but for all of us to go together for these three mornings. Their regular classwork was postponed until afternoon while some real-life work was done at church. The girls were asked to help in the nursery.

Arielle loves little children and I knew she would be an asset to the women caring for the little ones. But Liana? I had my doubts. She never seems interested in babies. But the first day after class, the women said she was a big help. Liana entertained babies and fed babies and rocked babies in the rocker. She went home feeling useful and proud of herself. She's growing up. My own baby is nine, after all.

After lunch I found Liana in her room. She was dressing her Bitty Baby, cuddling the doll in her lap. "Doesn't she look adorable?" she asked me. Liana carried the doll around all afternoon, even preparing a dish of "food" to give her. I treasure moments of watching her play like this because these times will soon be gone.

This little girl rejected books in favor of her own imagination played out on the carpet in her room as she created Polly Pocket towns and Polly Pocket lives. Liana would lie down, eye-level, and I would hear the dialogue she invented for each of her tiny dolls. She still does this occasionally, but more often she wants to dictate stories to me as I try to type as quickly as her words tumble out. The girl who delighted in dressing up as a princess now draws her royal designs on paper and reproduces them on her sewing machine. She dresses up in heels, with attention to coordinating accessories, but still loves her tiara.

Liana enjoyed her new responsibility in the nursery, but she isn't ready to leave childhood behind. And I'm glad about that. I'm not ready to give up my little girl.