Oh the woes of parenting

Recently I've become more and more aware of how quickly my baby girl is growing up. I mean I've watched her before, seen the clothes become too small in what feels like a day's time, watched her hair that started as shirly temple curls piled up on her head now reach in amazingly beautiful tendrils down her back, heard the talk about boys and friends at school. She's only 6 (seven in a little over a month) but the hardest part about not homeschooling is that the growing up happens so painfully quick.

I've recently accepted that I am in the very near future going to have to talk to her about female cycles. Little girls are starting their periods younger and younger and it is important to me that she hears correct information from home rather than from some other confused kid. All of this is part of the growing up.

So today after her nap she went to hug me and somehow my nose was level with her armpit and much to my horror I noticed an odor. Armpit smellies on my not-quite-seven-year-old daughter! Gasp! So I did some research and there are theories that sometimes it's what their eating (thanks Janet for the specific suggestions) or that this happens in overweight children (she isn't even close to being overweight lol). But mostly, the concensus is that this just happens sometimes. Doesn't seem to be an indicator of early puberty either. So I told her it was time to have nightly baths (we normally do every other night) and that she would need to start wearing deodorant. This, of course, she loves.

Then, to add to my sadness of how quickly she's growing, she decided to take her first ever alone shower. We just got the alone bathing down! But she did it and she was so proud.

I am so proud too. I want my children to grow up, really I do. I love the thought of watching them grow into independent beings and see who they turn out to be. Whoever that is, of course, I will have more pride in than imaginable. But this, this is the bittersweet part. Because as much as I want to watch them grow, nothing has ever hurt as bad as the letting go. And it starts when they're babies. We have to let go a centimeter at a time to let them walk, to let them make friends, to let them start school, to let them start visiting the friends they've made. Each little bit we let go is closer to independence and further from those days we could wrap them up and keep them protected from the big, wide world. For now, she's so small I fill her entire line of vision. I can conquer the world as far as she is concerned. And it's the now, that beautiful now, that I am going to relish in.