Sideline Chatter

"It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't." -Barbara Kingsolver

I had to see it for myself. And when I did, I was in stunned silence, disbelief, and amazement.

There she was, doing it all by herself. Without one of us by her side. Independent. On her own.

The peanut is now old enough to take the kids-only class at The Little Gym. Just teachers and kids. No parents. No hand-holding, carrying, or dragging. No kidding.

We are now relegated to sitting outside the classroom, looking through the big glass windows, watching our daughter like she's a little fish in large tank.

My wife had taken her to the first class of this new semester the week before, and told me how great she did. I needed to witness it for myself.

Adding to my pride and my heartbreak at the same time, the peanut proved she doesn't need us to do this with her anymore. Tumbling, climbing, crawling, jumping, balancing, running. All by herself. 

Just another part of her life where she's outgrown us already. Just weeks before her third birthday, I find myself taking stock of the things where she no longer requires our assistance.   

Big things like wearing underwear and doing pee-pee on the potty. Little things such as eating a whole hot dog, bun and all, without the need to cut it up. Big things like drawing a circle, recognizing letters and numbers, identifying colors. Little things like going up the stairs by herself, holding the railing and climbing them one foot at a time.

I find myself asking my wife, "When did that happen? When did she learn the color brown? The color white? To count to 30?"

There we were, sitting in the lobby of The Little Gym with the other parents. We watched in wonderment as our children performed the same tasks that we sometimes had to convince them, urge them, beg them to perform. Imploring them to pay attention, to listen, to follow instructions.

They were doing all of this now without us. And all we could talk about was how great our kids were doing, how big they're getting, how much and how fast they've grown.

Were we just getting in their way before?

It makes me wonder: what's the

The crib she's outgrowing but has no interest in leaving? The tricycle in the garage whose pedals she had trouble reaching this past spring and summer? The little brother or sister we're thinking about adding that she says she has no interest in having? 

We'll continue to sit on the
sideline, and watch as she passes each milestone, and make sure we make a big deal out of everything every time she does.next big thing that will no longer be a big thing?

But to her, it's not a big deal. it's just part of growing up.