where have all the babies gone?

Amelia is at that stage where she just wants to write everything down. She wants to make lists and write love letters.... to me, of course. She wants to read books and copy them out. She wants to write write write.

Mommy, how do you spell.......? Is what I hear numerous times a day. I'll bet a bazillion times, at least.

And the list of words I have spelled for her over the last three months is endless.

She is almost at the end of her cute and almost into the real person phase of life. You know what I'm talking about, right? The phase where they make plans that don't involve me anymore. The phase where they say things like "Well, my teacher said...." and I start to feel like a second class citizen. The phase where I have to start with the whole "guiding and directing" part of child rearing as opposed to the "they are right under my thumb and therefore I have a lot of control they don't know about" kind of child rearing.

It was always fine when the one of the children started to grow up because there was always someone younger to coddle, snuggle, squeeze and control...... I mean love.

But soon all of them will be 'big' and there will be no more 'little' and.......

................ I am growing up.

Where have all my babies gone?