A Little Girl Longer than Most

I missed a few days.  I figured it was better to get some sleep and perhaps I can even write two a day.  This weekend was busy but awesome.  I ran in my first half marathon in 10 years.  It was such a great feeling to tackle something that long, to be part of a big running festival, and to do it with a brand new group of friends.  After that, it was constant kid time.  By the time I get to the end of most days I feel like my head is spinning.

The days seem to go by so fast, everyone is getting older, and there are times when I just want to slow it all down and keep them young.  Other times, I am ready for more independence.  A great scene in the Office wedding Thursday night was Jim and Pam taking mental snapshots with their hands. I am going to start doing that.  It may even help to lighten the tone when things are rough, like taking a pretend photo of Claire trying to get dressed in the morning. Today she wailed because she wanted to wear shorts.  Really too cold for shorts, but I was willing to let her try even if it meant missing recess.  She went with capris.

Now to get to the title.  When Colleen was about 4-5 months old I found myself in my favorite store, Target, in the coffee/food section.  I probably had a Starbucks and both older kids were in school, James in K and Claire at afternoon preschool.  Colleen still had a nasal feeding tube but it was post heart surgery.  She was still small and had this plastic thing attached to her face.  Okay, so people look.  I was probably trying to get her to eat from a special bottle and then was going to put the rest of the milk down her tube.  Feeding her required thickening her food, lifting her chin with a finger, and squeezing her cheeks.  Not the typical babe with a bottle.  I caught the eye of one woman, looked like a mom of a bit older kids, and she had a nice but curious look to her face.  She probably said something, which opened the conversation, and then I got to tell the short version of Colleen: DS, open heart surgery, trying to teach her to eat again, etc.  She looked at me and said, "You will have a little girl longer than most."  Who would not want to have a little girl longer than most?  It was a great comment and one I go back to, similar to first the heart the rest will follow.  Touched by a stranger.

Colleen is the little girl I will have longer than most.  When Claire was three she insisted on wearing only dresses no pockets, buttons in the back.  Colleen, I can put anything on her, she is happy.  She still loves to play peek a boo and itsy bitsy spider.  It is easy to make her happy, and while she does have fits it is not the long drawn out battle of wills that some three years engage in. 

I know that one day she will be grown up and ready for her own life, her own adventures, her own story. In the meantime I am going to savor having my little girl longer than most.