When she grows up

Big Girl is full of wishes and proclamations set in the time of "when I grow up." When she grows up, she will drive a car - and she can already describe this car in considerable detail. So watch out for a cute teenager in a baby blue Volvo in about twelve years (ack!). She will be a mommy, like me. And being a mommy means she will do particular things, such as get haircuts, but not too short, because she likes having longer "soft" hair. She will have a lot of pets, and some of them rather non-traditional - alligators come to mind. And she will wear glasses.

I love that she doesn't have any of the childhood prejudices against glasses at this point. She just fully expects that, while she does not wear glasses now, she will wear them when she grows up, because so many of the adults she knows wear them. Almost every member of our family wears them, so yes, she will likely need them too within just a few short years. But a part of her innocence, and her fascination with so many aspects of her world and the people she loves, is her desire to be like us. To wear glasses, because that's what grownups do.

She doesn't see glasses as a marker of poor eyesight, as a sign representing a flaw or weakness in those she loves. I know she'll grasp the purpose and significance of glasses soon enough, but I love the desire to wear glasses when she grows up, as she expressed repeatedly tonight on our drive home. She is all sweetness and affection and love and adoration right now, and I can only try - fail, but try - to live up to her image of me.