Growing up

When people who haven't seen Sophie in a while tell me how much she's grown, I always say I can't tell. Because I really can't. I guess it's hard when you're caught up in the everyday minutiae of parenting to be conscious of how much growing your child is actually doing- how much taller, stronger, how many more words, new skills and abilities. In fact, until a couple of days ago when Sophie was laughing so hard that I could actually see into the insides of her mouth, I hadn't realized that her last molars have almost completely popped out.

Then last night, I happened upon a photo taken of Sophie in January of 2011 and I was struck by what I saw.

Sophie 2011

Sophie 2012

In the photo on the top, Sophie still had her soft, short, untouched baby hair. In fact, it wouldn't be for another five months before she would get her hair cut for the first time. And even though she already had most of her front teeth, her incisors were still growing out.

Of course, in the photo on the bottom, which was taken just last weekend, I see such a different girl. There is a new maturity and strength behind her eyes, and her features are looking more and more like the features of an adult. You can almost see how she'd look like as a grown-up. Her fast growing hair needs to be brushed every morning and held back with either a hair clip or a rubber band.

You've done so much good growing this last year Sophie- Mama and Dada can't wait to see how much more you'll do come the rest of your life...