5 Ways I Know My Daughter is No Longer a Baby*

I’m twenty seven with a now three year old daughter. I have to tell myself this on a daily basis because I still find it hard to believe. Because it’s just LM & I (and of course Elsa) I still very much think of Little Miss as my baby but over the past few months I’ve noticed the baby characteristics disappearing one by one and I’m left with a very beautiful and independent little girl. As much as I love her developing personality, I fear that soon she’ll not need me as much as she has and I’ll have nothing else. I’m sure I’m not the only mum to ever feel this way so I thought today I’d share some of the ways i’ve noticed that she’s growing up way to fast for my liking!

1. She Can Now Use a Toilet

Yes, gone are the days of carting the potty around. She only has a potty in her room at night because I’m not taking the gate off her room yet (for fear of her falling down the stairs in the dark). She uses the toilet all day, and goes up and down the stairs to use it. She also uses it at pre-school too. It all started while on holiday, the toilets at the parks were a lot lower so she felt safe sitting on. She even used the one of the plane on the way back so I knew she was ready to tackle it every day. I bought one of these Disney padded toilet seats from eBay as her biggest fear was falling in and that took that away (when we’re out and about I just hold her own unless she can hold onto the bath like at my mum’s and Nanny’s house). She also has a step up at my place too. I can’t believe all that toilet training is practically over, it was still the hardest part of parenting I had to do, but I’m so glad she found bravery in taking the next step herself.

2. It’s Almost Time to Say Goodbye to the Cot Bed

At the moment we have a cot bed, but I can see that our days are numbered with it. It’s not that she’s getting too big for it, it’s just the fact it’s so close to the ground that it doesn’t set a great precedent for her sleeping in a proper bed. At three she needs a more grown up bed, one that she can learn to get in and out of and is big enough for her ever growing plush collection (we brought way too many back from our holiday!) I’d love to get her one of the beautiful toddler beds from Room to Grow as they’re the next step up from the cot bed, without being a full single. I’m lucky in that LM is probably going to be able to fit into one of those until she’s 6 or 7!

3. People Have Started to Ask Which School She Is Going To

In October I will have to register what school I would like LM to go to. She doesn’t started until September 2016 but from October school will pre-occupying both our lives. I have already been asked a few times by mum’s at the pre-school she attends which schools I will be selecting and what is my first choice. It’s so much more complicated than when I was a kid, but thankfully we live in the catchment area for the school I want LM to go to. Still, I don’t want to think about it really, but unfortunately, it’s happening already!

4. She Eats from the Kids Menu (most of the time)

It used to be when I went out for food I would just let LM eat off my plate, but now I’d say about 90% of the time I have to order her own meal because there is noise if I don’t. There seems to always be something that she likes. This wasn’t the case on holiday, more so because the portions are so big that I wouldn’t be able to eat it all myself either so it seemed better to share. But the fact she now enjoys having a big girl meal while out is a sign she’s no longer a baby happy to pick off my plate.

5. She Can Copy & Recognise Her Own Name

This is a big one. This week I had an alert from Tapestry that for the first time ever my little girl had copied her name down. It was a huge proud mummy moment as I don’t ever associate reading and writing with my baby girl. I know she has always had pretty good pencil/pen control. She is great at drawing and colouring for her age but actually copying a word down and it being pretty legible was a huge deal and I really did get upset that she was speeding towards the end of being a baby and even a toddler and moving onto being a young girl. As if that wasn’t enough, when I was showing her her passport later on that day she pointed to her name and told me that was what it said. I should have never doubted for a second that she would be quick at anything literacy related as I was as child but it’s scary to see, scary because even though she’s ready for it, I’m not.

It feels like in the last month she has grown up so much. Her hair has grown longer and her speech has improved so much. She can recount stories and remember names. My mum says she’s running faster, and she’s looking taller (that one I think is possibly in my head). Although she’s at a wonderful age now where she constantly says “mummy you’re my best friend” I’m not ready to no longer have a baby and I’m terrified that I’ll never have a baby again. I didn’t enjoy being pregnant and I didn’t enjoy the first year of her life because of outside circumstances, I don’t want to not be able to do the new baby thing again which is why I think I cling to the idea of having Little Miss as a baby. I still refer to her room as “the nursery” but no matter how hard I try to keep a hold of my “baby girl” there is no denying that my time of being a mother of a baby is quickly running out.