Staying in the lines

Take a look a the picture below:


I'm finding it pretty significant that in the past week or so Katherine has started coloring IN THE LINES.  Yes we still have many toddler scribbles but give her a picture or shape to color in and she meticulously colors within the boundaries.  I find this both an amazing developmental milestone and a bit sad too.  This probably doesn't phase some parents, everyone has their "things" that they find significant.  For me coloring in the lines, while small,  was one of those big moments.

What has also sadly developed within the last week or so is that Katherine is now too big for me to carry.  It's a combination of the pregnancy and her growing.  I can pick her up briefly to check things out, get her out of the tub, etc...  But when it comes to actually carrying her for any length of time I just can't to it.  I find this really sad because there's still plenty of moments where she will look up and say "carry me".

We received big news from the daycare about a week ago.  They are doing some room rearranging with the kids and they feel that Katherine needs to move up to the next room.  Being a pretty small center, children of multiple ages are grouped together, so Katherine is currently in a room with two and three year olds.  Even though she is still a good eight months away from turning four they would like her to join a room with older threes and four year olds, so as they put it "we can see more progress for her".  This makes me extremely happy because her birthday is a mere 10 days shy of the school cut off for Wake County.  This means that she will always be the youngest child in her class.  Knowing that she can hold her own with the four year olds gives me peace of mind.  They are transitioning her at her own pace, I guess last week she had no interest in joining them and the staff did not force it. I know that she loves Ms. Wanda, the lead teacher in her current room (as do I!). However when we picked her up today she was happily playing in the "big kid room" and the teacher reported she had a great day. 

My baby girl may still be little but she sure is growing up.