It's Happening...

Slowly but surely, Ava is gaining more and more freedom with every day that falls off the calendar!  She is one motivated little girl and she spends 90% of her waking hours, crawling/dragging/slinking her little self across the room, trying to get whatever is the object of her desire!

I mean seriously, how did we get here so fast??  Wasn't I just bringing her home from the hospital last week?  And weren't we just talking about how little she looked in her big crib??  Didn't she just smile for the first time and weren't we just working on nursing??

And now...

Now, she's on the cusp of crawling??  How did that happen??

She is getting so good at getting right up on her hands and knees...

First she rocks back and forth, then she straightens her legs out and crosses them, in the most perfect push-up form you have ever seen!

And then with every ounce of determination in her, she sets her little eyes on the prize.

Yes, we lure her with the TV remotes.

And it works every time!

She gets back on those knees, moves a little closer with every stride....

And then reaches her arms as far they'll stretch, grabbing that remote with those tiny little fingers...

And then she looks at me like,

"What??  Did you doubt me??  If you're going to dangle a remote in front of me, don't think I won't go after it.  I'm getting ready to rule this house Mom, you better get used to it!!"

Sigh.  My baby is growing up.

Right. Before. My. Eyes.

And while it's exciting and I'm drinking these days in...It makes my heart hurt just a little bit too.

I know she's ready for this new step, for some greater independence, but I'm not sure I am.

I kind of liked knowing that she needed me, even it was exhausting.

First it's crawling, then it's walking, then it's running.  With each new phase she'll need less of me and more of her.  It's normal, it's natural, and it's good.  But I can't help but feel that it's a little bit sad too.

Someone please tell me now, how in the world am I going to survive adolescence??  

Good thing we've got some time to figure it out :)