How Did We Get Here?

She doesn’t love Elsa anymore.

She used to live and breathe Elsa. We have shed the Elsa sheets, the nightlight, the toys. She refuses to watch either of the Frozen movies. If “Let It Go” comes on the radio, she rolls her eyes now.

How did we get here?

How did that tiny girl with the cutest pigtails turn into this force to be reckoned with on the ice in her hockey gear? How did she become this child with wit and humor that can bring you to tears in seconds? How do the days just keep speeding on even though this tiny baby kept you awake most of her first two years of life?

The season of transitions is hard. You know that moment when you realize something that she was so incredibly passionate about now annoys her…how did we get here?

She can sing almost every word of most Olivia Rodrigo songs. She does a fierce front tuck with her t-shirt that only she can pull off. She is the most passionate kid over literally the smallest things. I can’t say she didn’t have that fire as a tiny baby, but it sure hasn’t been extinguished. If anything, it’s only getting bigger each day.

How did we get here? How did the little baby girl who I dressed in florals and pink turn into this Mario-loving, teal wearing girl?

While she is growing up so quickly, I can still see that child-like wonder in her eyes. She’s the first one awake on Christmas morning running through the house in excitement. She still loves imaginative play, even if she never dresses up like Elsa anymore.

She may be the kid that keeps me up and gives me gray hairs, but her love and passion makes it all worth it. Those moments where she is so caught up in anger and frustration (and I’m on the brink of a mental breakdown) but somehow I say what she needs to hear and she melts into a puddle of goo, I see how hard she’s working to understand the world and her place in it just like when she was two years old.

She’s only seven, but I can see the time flying by.

She’s constantly growing, just like everyone else. Some day, probably sooner than I’d like, I’ll be removing the Mario sheets and the Bluey toys. She won’t ask for Gabby’s Dollhouse stuff for Christmas. She won’t always need a chair to reach the top rack in her closet. And, she will eventually learn to flush the toilet (I’m really hoping this is sooner rather than later).

But just like Elsa said,“Show yourself. Step into your power. Grow yourself into something new.”