I remember buying the china - coming back from Whidbey when we first moved here. There's a Habitat in Port Townsend that weirdly has a huge selection of vintage china. I bought a 50's snack set which was the perfect size for three year old hands. An elephant teapot, a low wide table with little cubes to sit on. Tiered plates from Kim for a birthday sugar bowl with no lid, some little bowls from my grand china set. And on one of their first visits i threw my first tea party. All sorts of finger foods throughout the years, the cloth napkins with the little embroidered goose and gingham edging, the fanciest of lunches. I often hosted a variety of princesses with tiaras and gloves, food fell in and out of favor often.
They are 9. And want to grow up so bad - we can all remember how it seemed to take for-ev-er from that perspective. With my boys I noticed but those days - endless work shifts, the gym, paying bills, how are we going to pay those bills. so busy. But of course we saw them all the time. Now it seems like everytime we see the girls they've grown half a foot and you can see just the edge of maturity to them. They no longer just throw on anything they find it thier suitcase, it's jeans and tees, no more leggings and dresses. They have very different personalities, I buy their winter coats every year and this year they picked them out themselves. D took about 20 minutes, scrolling, we watched a couple videos, colors...decisions, decisions. C on the other had took exactly 5 seconds. Black. Long. That one. As much as it's bit disconcerting to see them morph into teenagers I'm looking forward to this next chapter in their lives and so glad we are here to participate. But I have to admit I miss those tiny people that used to sit in my lap, wanting nothing more than to snuggle.
