it begins

The other day, Mk was playing in the front yard when some neighbor kids took notice. They came over and asked her the basics, like:

“What’s your name?”
“How old are you?”
“Can we have a snack?”

And although her answer to the first two questions was her name and her answer to the last question was a “No,” they hit it off. BFF’s, despite the massive age difference.

Yesterday, one of these new friends of hers came over while we were playing soccer in the backyard. And yours truly? Immediately replaced by this super cool 10-year-old. Not to mention, she’s 10. So when Mk insisted that they run around the yard in circles, this girl wasn’t stopping every few seconds to catch her breath like a certain someone I know.

Heh.

But my baby, she let me down gently. She was all “Mom, why don’t you just go inside with the babies. You go check on ’em. You don’t need’a stay out here with me. I’m just gunna play with my friend. See ya later.”

Yea. That just happened. And she’s three.

Now, I know that it was only a matter of time before she was all “Get lost, Mom.”

I guess I just thought that it would happen years from now. Like, maybe 60 years from now. When she would finally decide to send me to an old folks’ home to get me out of her basement.

Growing up is hard to do.