Growing up—it's something you can measure!

Without another baby to replace the last baby...how do they grow up? 

I'm not sure. It feels inevitable that we're babying Phoebe a little more than our other kids were babied at her age—since they'd each been replaced with an actual baby they could no longer be the baby. We're not sure how to make a child grow up otherwise, I guess. 

We do our best to teach her things and encourage her to evolve as a person, but Phoebe is happy being the baby. And I'm happy to imagine that she's still a sweet, tiny newborn. 

But the truth is that she's not. 

She much closer to being a full-blown kid than she is to being a baby. 

Recently she's taken to playing outside with the neighbourhood kids for hours at a time. Hours! 

After nearly 19 years of having a small person within arm's reach 24/7, it seems surreal to go hours without having any little people underfoot. It feels even more surreal that...that is all the future holds for us. 

It's lovely. And it's lonely. 

Okay, so "all" might be a little hyperbolic. I realize there is more to life than taking care of babies. But after two decades of taking care of babies it feels strange to realize that there's...no more taking care of babies in my future (not in this sense). 

But I'm mostly okay with it. 

Phoebe is working on being okay with it as well.

After dinner Miriam left to take Benjamin to swim practice. Technically Miriam's after-dinner job is clearing the table, but since she has to run off for either swim team or mutual every weekday that hardly ever happens. So instead we work together to clear the table.

But...we forget that Phoebe isn't a baby anymore and often excuse her to go play (or whatever) instead of involving her in the work. 

It isn't purposeful...it's just habit. 

Alexander wasn't having that today, however.

"Phoebe—you can clear your own plate!" he said. 

Phoebe gasped in shock. 

"I'm just a baby!" she said (which is probably a clear indication of not being a baby). 

"No, you're not," he said firmly. "You're growing up—you're a kid now! And if you want to play outside with everybody you're gonna have to start acting like it."

Phoebe gasped again, this time with indignation.

"Fine!" she snapped, grabbing her plate. 

She stormed off to the kitchen muttering to herself: "Mutter, mutter, mutter, clear your plate, mutter, mutter, mutter, growing up, mutter, mutter...stupid!"

But she put her plate in the sink and survived to tell the tale.

And, yeah, we should probably work on enforcing some more pitching-in from her since her babyhood card has clearly expired...