Multitasking Momma: Someone's Eager to Grow Up

There are times when I go about my day, working on whatever I need to work on, when something makes me stop. I slowly turn around and there is my daughter, just watching me, taking everything in.

She’s not even 4 years old, but she copies adults. Sometimes she’s copying the good, like eating broccoli, and sometimes she’s copying the funny, such as Momma’s mannerisms.

It’s my job to try and keep her from copying the bad, but sometimes I fail. The other day I dropped something in the kitchen and, before I could stop myself, I shouted, “Oh crap!” My daughter comes running into the kitchen like a stampeding elephant and, with absolute seriousness asks me, “Mommy, why did you shout ‘Oh crack!’?” I still snicker to myself when thinking about it.

Kids are a hoot, mine especially. She so badly wants to be a grownup. She wants to use Momma’s makeup brushes, press buttons on the remote control and walk her dog Smokey. She wants to cut her own peanut butter and jelly sandwich in half, wear high heels and check out her own books. She doesn’t want to sit in a shopping cart; she would much prefer to carry a basket at or place her own deli order at (and politely request a free sample of Swiss cheese, not American).

My co-workers call her my “Mini-Me” and it’s quite true, but not just because she looks like me. She talks with her hands. She sits with a marker and is incredibly detailed in her artwork. She’ll give you that questioning, half eye roll look.

She’s still a little girl, but she’s growing up before my eyes. Amelia turns 4 next month and she can’t wait for her birthday. Maybe she’ll wish to be big when she blows out the candles on her pink frosted cupcakes. Momma wishes she’d take her time.