I love how my mind works...

....Except when I don't.

...Or it doesn't. 

Work, that is.

I was having a face to face discussion with Bubbles, aka Mini-E. She's not quite so Mini any longer. She's going to be 5.

Five.

5.

4 + 1 

6 - 1

Five. Five. Five.

Hold up your hand with all fingers and thumb sticking out -- that many.

Five.

Watching her eyes twinkle and her face light up as she smiles, I reveled in her nearly five-ness. It was with a bit of a stun that I realized she'd gone through her 4 1/2 phase of life. Or at least she's passing it. 

I didn't notice it because she's always been my challenge of a child.

Today, I'm fairly certain she stuck her tongue out at me...though i couldn't be ABSOLUTELY certain. It was that faintest hint of doubt that saved her from a smack on the bum. That and I was in a really awesome story arc of a story no one will read.

If I had been absolutely certain, I'd have dropped the arc and gone for the swat. Promise.

She's just that kind of girl.

World Changer. Future leader. Future rabble-rouser. I don't know...but it's going to be awesome.

Miss Awesome-world-changing-rabble-rouser is going to be five in February. 

I got teary eyed. 

Seriously. 

Then I stopped to analyze WHY I was teary eyed and choked up. ("Seriously. There could be tears.") (Firefly reference FTW!!!!) 

Yes, I stopped my sweet moment with my nearly five year old to analyze. 

I've never been one to rue the passing of time. I do not get maudlin when the age passes. I do NOT miss the baby stage. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the walking and the falling down. I enjoyed the toothless laughter. I enjoyed the discoveries that they made.

But I will not miss it. 

I celebrate the milestones. Each and everyone. That's why I don't look back and get yearny. I'm thrilled that she's turning five. (In four months -give or take a few days - I know. I did the math.) But still...I celebrate that she's going to be five.

That is what brought me to tears. That's what choked me up. I know it is. I'm okay with that. 

All gooey in fact.

Of course, it might have been the fact that she survived to tell the tale.

Naaaaaahhhh...

So here's to milestones!!!

Huzzah!!!!

(here's to surviving the hardest child I've ever had to train!!!) (HUZZAH!!!)

(we're not done yet, either.) (...)