Growing Up

To my dear Hannah,
You are such a sweet, loving girl! You are so caring and loving to your baby sister, and you are mommy's best-ever helper! I am very proud of you and all the grown-up things you've been learning and doing lately. But it is really bittersweet to watch you grow up.
There are many times, at the end of the day, when everything is quiet and calm and still, when I am overwhelmed by you. I might not always say it or show it correctly , but I love you so very much, pretty girl! I hope you know that. Even when I get frustrated or angry (especially when you scream and kick and cry about brushing your teeth!), I still love you just as much as ever. And during those quiet bedtime moments, when you are all snuggled up in your warm comfty bed, underneath pink & purple sheets, inside fluffy clean pjs, holding your favorite bear blanket - it is then, right there, that I want time to stop.
I just want more time with you. More time, just like this.
I ask if you can stay this age, this child size and shape, for always. And your reply is the same every time I ask: No mommy, I have to grow up.
You accept it as a fact of life, so simply and whole-heartedly. You think: Everyone grows up, so I will too. Then there is me, the grown-up, struggling to keep up with the reality of so much daily change and growth.
Even so, no matter how big you get, no matter how much you learn or how far you go, you will still be my little girl.
That's the way it is with children and parents.