Three Times A Mom

My little girl is growing up. Last week Alyssa insisted I remove the nightlight from her room. “Four-year-olds need a cozy dark room, mama” she said. I thought it was all talk (she is very brave in theory – not so much in practice) and that within a few minutes she’d be asking me to plug it back in. But no! She slept well all night in what is now a very dark room, and has slept without it every night since. She’s even planned out how she’s going to remove the nightlights from the rooms she sleeps in at her grandmas’ homes. I know it seems like such a small thing, but for some reason it really made me emotional. I have loved every stage of our children’s lives so far. I know I’ll love the next stages too. But the passing of each stage brings us one step closer to the day when she’ll leave us to start a life of her own. I’m even dreading school. In just 9 short months she’ll be starting kindergarten and I’ll never again get to be with her all day every day. Some people probably think that I’m cheating our children by refusing to put them in preschool, but these years go by so quickly that I couldn’t bear giving them up any sooner than I have to. I love my sweet girl. I love how responsible and grown-up she is becoming, but I don’t love the fact that she doesn’t need me quite as much as she used to.