My baby girl...

Sophie has had these two little baby teeth on each side of her "big girl" top front teeth that have been loose for a while now. Because her adult teeth need room, they've been pushing these baby teeth sort of outward making them more prominent. They've been loose forever, but she refuses to wiggle her teeth, goofy girl!

Well, yesterday while at Grammy's house, she kept picking at Bryce. At some point, Bryce kicked at her, which incidentally made contact with her MOUTH, which also loosened one of those baby teeth significantly.

Thing is, the girl WILL NOT wiggle those teeth out!

After a day of having a dangly little tooth, I asked if I could see it. I had a washrag in my hand at the time, but told her that I wanted to see if it was clean (she knows I'll use a terry towel to wipe clean her little teeth if they hurt or use it to polish their teeth after a good brushing and flossing). ANYWAY, I knew that if I grabbed that little dangling pearl with the towel, it would come out.

After convincing her to let me see it and wiggle it a little with the towel, I went for it.

She snatched away from me so quickly that it left it REALLY dangling (think BY A THREAD). She squabbled and fussed at me, but since she knew it had to come out at that point, she let me grab it one more time. With a quick little *plink* it came out!

When she smiled, I wanted to cry. She suddenly had this "big girl" smile. Sure, she still has that one little baby tooth over on the other side, but her little gappy grin just looked *SO GROWN* all of a sudden.

And then the silly bands... GOOD LORD, those silly bands! She loves them. She wears them EVERYWHERE - including in the bath and to bed. She trades them at school and such...

She's never really been one to accessorize, despite the fact that I've stuck a bow in her hair since she had enough hair to hold one. Seeing all these colorful little bracelets line her little arm once again screamed "BIG KID" to me... *sniffle*

AND THEN when I asked her if she wanted me to paint her toenails (something I've done since she was a baby), she specifically asked me to paint her fingernails, too (something she never asks for).

Is my baby girl coming into the world of "big girl stuff" already?

After reading to her tonight, I laid there in the bed and talked to her a bit... I rubbed her head and felt this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach - a bittersweet feeling...

I said, "One day, do you think you'll be too big for us to read bedtime stories to you?"

"Yeah."

(You could've heard my heart darn near stop at that point, I bet!)

While I want to see my sweet girl grow up and become a young lady, it's hard to let go of her babyhood... but even if I'm blessed and on this big ball long enough to see her become a grandmother, she'll still be my baby. She always will be... no matter what.