Things to Do - Watch My Kids Grow Up

I take literally (in the original sense) thousands of photos a week (my poor children). And I had no real expectations of the photo above, which was one of hundreds I shot in the last 30 minutes or so of daylight. But after the kids went to bed and I started editing some of the week's photos, I came across this picture and it made me catch my breath. She looks so OLD!

Lately, I find that little things often catch me off guard. Does anyone else with tweens feel the same way? Every day I'm so caught in the middle of it - fights over sleepovers, homework, GOING TO BED! - that weeks often go by where I fail to notice how quickly things change.

At the Women's March, I said to F, "It's going to be hard for you to see the screen, so I'll try to pick you up, even though you're heavier now, so I don't think I can carry you for very long." And she replied, "Um, mom, I'm the same height as you, I can see whatever you see." And I know that. I see that every day. But there's still this disconnect - while looking my daughter in the eye, I'm still thinking of her as someone who is much shorter than me. It makes no sense. But there it is. It's like she's both big and little at the same time.

As a teenager, I remember watching a car commercial with my mom, in which a father is teaching his daughter to drive. Rather than showing a teenage girl, the commercial features a small child in the driver's seat - it isn't until the end that you realize that the man sees a kid, despite the fact that a 16 year old is next to him. And my mom said, "it seems crazy, but it's true. that's how parenting is." And I thought that was ridiculous.

But it is true. How odd and sad and wonderful all at the same time.