Dash's birthday has come and gone and another month has
passed as well. Time seems to be accelerating as I get older and I really don't
like it much. My own birthday is just a couple of weeks away.
Thirty six. I will be 36 years old. To put that into a
little crazy perspective about where I am in life compared with my ancestors,
I'm going to share a little family data.
My great-grandmother was born in July, 1920. A month before
her 17th birthday, she gave birth to my grandmother. That grandmother had my
dad 9 days before her 19th birthday. This means that 6 weeks prior to her 36th birthday,
my great -grandma became a grandmother.
By the time she was my
age she was a grandma.
Now I realize that this is not exactly modern day normal,
but I know it's not incredibly unusual, either. I had an acquaintance my
freshman year of college whose mother was 35 and I have seen demographic
information that indicates that being a grandma at my age isn't really that
rare.
And that makes me
feel old.
Other things that make me feel old are knowing that my own
mother was an empty-nester the week of her 45th birthday. ALL her kids were
grown and out of the house when she was a mere nine years older than I am now. Add to the list that my grandfather will be
celebrating his 20th anniversary, to the dear wife he married when I was a
senior in high school, that this year's college freshman class was born after I met my husband, and students
beginning Driver's Ed later this year have lived their entire lives with
America fighting the war on terror. . .
Yes, I feel old.
But I'm not. Not really!
I'm healthier (for the most part) than I was in my 20s, my energy remains with me throughout most of the day, my family is making some serious long-term planning that makes me feel young and excited, and getting up at night with
my toddler doesn't have me dragging the next day.
Toddler. *sigh* It's hard to say that because she's not a
baby anymore.
So before I forget, I thought I should share her 12 month
check-up stats. After a week of illness, Dash weighed in at 23.8 pounds (85th
percentile) and although I don't remember her height, the CNP said it was 95th percentile. She has outgrown size 18
month clothes everywhere except sleeve length. Those short arms in-utero have
stayed with her. She's not walking, which has been a frustrating surprise.
She'll walk holding onto my finger with one hand, but the moment I let go, she
bends her right knee to get down and steady herself. I know the walking will
come with time, but I'm so very ready to finish potty training her and doing so
before she can walk seems like more effort than even I am willing to put in.
The doctor is a little concerned about her speech; a concern
I share. She is saying "Dada" and "Mama" but not
consistently. However, she added a new word this week: babble. A few times a
week I put on one of three speech videos that came recommended to us when The
Reader was in speech therapy. The series is Baby Babble and it is very loved
around here! If I ask or mention that I'm putting on Baby Babble, Dash will say
"babble", although it sounds more like "bab". If she hasn't
shown improvement by her 15 month checkup, I'll look into having her tested.
Multiple studies have shown that early intervention has distinct benefits over
waiting it out. You can find more info on there here
if you want.
The last thing to mention is probably the one that makes me
the most "smiley" on the inside: Spitfire is reading! She can easily
work her way through the level 1 readers and is quickly advancing to level 2.
She joins in our family scripture study, too, making sure that as we go around,
she gets her chance to read a verse, too.
Her favorite line from the Book of Mormon is "And it
came to pass" but she can read some of the harder names, too, like
Gadianton, Kishkumen, and Pahoran. Words like "thought",
"might", and "desolate" require a little help but if she
keeps progressing as fast as she had, they won't need help for long.
I have one daughter learning to walk, one learning to read, and one who is learning to lead (more on that later). I am one lucky (not too old!) Mama.
