My First Baby

Michaela is growing up so fast.  I cannot believe how different she looks since last August when Eliana was born.  Her whole face has changed.  She has also lost 7 teeth and her two front teeth took forever to come in.  So now that they are mostly in she looks so much older.  She looks like a young lady instead of a girl who was just a preschooler.  That might sound funny because she is 7, which is not like we just stopped using sippy cups and wearing diapers.  But the last four years have been so nutty and have brought so many kinds of changes that, in the whirlwind, I hadn't stopped to notice how much she was changing.  

While some things are obviously different, like her teeth or her feet getting bigger, some things have not changed as she has gotten older.  Michaela has always had an eye for beauty.  She notices beautiful things and appreciates aesthetics.  She loves to sing, and listen to music.  She is very observant (which means I can't get much by her).  She is quick and very logical.  Recently I was frustrated while trying to feed Eliana because she wouldn't eat anything on this particular occasion.  I flipped the spoon onto the table and sat back in my chair dejectedly and said, dramatically,"I quit.  I'm not feeding her anymore!"  Michaela laughed and said,"But that means she would never eat!"  I looked at her and chuckled and thought how smart she was to be able to take things to their "logical conclusion."  Her humor also helped to make the tension of the moment go away.  She has always loved babies, even when she was two.  When Christian was born Michaela and I would sit on the couch together nursing our babies.  She would lift her doll up to her chest and hold her there and look at me with this face that said,"Like this, Mommy?"  She wants to be a "Mommy" when she grows up.   All of these characteristics and qualities are so wonderful to watch in her.  Seeing such amazing attributes in my daughter makes me want to be a better mom for her. 

Eliana and Christian demand a lot from me most of the time, in good ways and in tiring ways.  Michaela is easy most of the time.  This makes me realize that I have to pay attention to her deliberately because I don't want to miss anything!  She might be coming up with some nuclear-physics-molecular-bionic-hyper-sonic-theory and I wouldn't know it because I was trying to get Eliana to sleep!  She is a treasure, a joy.  I pray that I am able to convey that to her each day. 

Comments

[jen]

She sounds like she'd get along so well with Alexis. Alexis has wanted to be a mommy since she got her first baby doll (would you believe it was Nieves who sent Sergio with a doll for Alexis when she was 2 years old?!!?). As she gets older, I will secretly tell you (well, it's no secret now I guess LOL), that I hoped she'd kinda grow out of this intense desire. Only because I don't want her to decide at 15 year that she wants to be a mommy RIGHT THEN. LOL I could totally see it...she's so motherly and care-taking for everyone. Alexis also is very artistic...not so much into academics...but she loves to draw, sing, dance. Soooo the opposite of me. I just thought it was funny how much our first-borns seem to have in common. :)