Growing Up...

Over the past few weeks, I noticed that Charlotte had been "extra good" about picking up behind herself and her little sister and keeping her room nice and tidy. So as a reward I decided I would take her to Hobby Lobby to get the "Eiffel Tower" for her bedroom wall that she's been admiring over the past few months...Charlotte is currently obsessed with all things "Paris".

So last Saturday afternoon Charlotte, Amelia and I loaded up in the car and headed out to the store. We walked up and down the aisles and Charlotte picked out her Eiffel Tower and a hot pink, old-fashioned alarm clock (the kind with the 2 bells on top). She was so proud of her "big girl" purchases and couldn't wait to show them off to her daddy and Nonna!

On Sunday night as I tucked the girls into bed, Charlotte asked if I could set her alarm...so I twisted the dial to 7 o'clock and flipped the switch to "on". To be honest, I didn't think the alarm would make any difference and figured we'd still have to go turn the alarm off and get the girls up.

I was pleasantly surprised as I laid in bed half asleep on Monday morning and heard the alarm clock ringing and then quickly shut off. I was exhausted and didn't feel like dragging myself out of bed quite yet so thought I'd give myself and the girls a few more minutes before going to get them ready for school. Only before I knew it Charlotte was standing at my bed quietly letting me know she was ready for her breakfast. I looked up and had to do a double take...she was already dressed and ready for school! Not that there was ever any doubt, but I'm certain now that she must be her daddy's girl!

With such a wonderfully sweet wake up call, I managed to peel myself away from the mattress and make my way to the kitchen to start the day. Charlotte continued with her "big girl" attitude and helpfulness. Without me even mentioning it, she sat at the table and checked her sugar and even helped enter her carbs and sugar in her meter remote for her breakfast bolus. Then after breakfast she helped gather all her snacks and food for her lunch box, wrote the carb count on the bags, and even helped prepare her sandwich!

I enjoyed each and every moment of the morning while thinking in the back of my mind that certainly this wouldn't last. But my suspicions have been proven wrong...this lovely new trend continued all week...and Charlotte told me tonite that she wanted to set her alarm for 1am (aack!) so that she'd have some extra playtime this weekend...of course that isn't happening and served as a reminder to me to switch her alarm to 8am for the weekend instead of 7!

I'm not sure what prompted this new trend for my "big girl". Perhaps she's been sprinkled with some sort of magical pixie dust or maybe our family has been transported to another dimension...or maybe, just maybe, this is all part of my little girl growing up. While I'd love for Charlotte to stay my "little girl" forever...I do have to admit that I am really enjoying these little changes as she's slowly (oh, please let this be a slow process) growing up and blossoming into a responsible, self-confident and independent young lady.