Denial.

I like to stay in denial about some things. It just makes life so much easier! That's healthy, right? Right?

I have been in denial that Missy would grow up even from the minute she was born. Well, okay, I knew it was going to happen. I knew it would happen fast. It happened and is happening with the boys and nothing I do can stop it.

I was in denial about her first birthday coming. You all got the privilege of seeing (or reading) how hard that was for me (us). So I decided she would just stay a baby and never become a toddler!

There it is again...denial. It has a warm steady place in my life where I secretly nurture it and no one really has to know about it. I'm not addicted to anything chocolate. I'm not trying to hold on to my babies and keep them small forever. Not me!

But, unfortunately, there's this thing called life that creeps into my secret denial compartment and rears its harsh head. Babies do, in fact, turn into toddlers. And now I am seeing daily proof of that.

She climbs stairs now.....It only went up to about step 3 until yesterday. When I had the audacity to declare to our friend, Miss E, that Missy never ventured beyond!

So today she decided to climb ALLLL the way to the top. All 12 or 13 steps.

 Do you see that look she is giving me? It is one that toddlers perfect. It is a perfect blend of innocent, baby-defiance. She is starting to test now, albeit mildly. She reaches out a hand to touch the trash can, turns to look at me and says, "Mo, mo mo" (No, no, no). She turns on and off the t.v. while chanting "Mo, mo." She even almost knocked over a forgotten 2x2 that was hiding behind the door and when I told her that wasn't a toy? She cautiously, so as not to induce suspicion, reached out a hand, touched it and glanced at me out of the side of her eyes to see if I was watching.

She screams. She laughs. And then she screams again. She's a crawling, maybe turning walking terror on two of the cutest, chubbiest, shortest (sorry, baby!) little legs you ever saw.

(The boys playing games with Missy on the other side of the new barrier)

Life is a pure delight for my baby-turning-toddler. But, just like I've told my boys, even if she grows up and gets too big for her britches (or skirts) and gets all independent (it happens to the best of them..sigh), no matter how old she is or what she does or where she goes...

She'll always be my baby; they all will. Denial or no denial.