She needs a backpack!

Last Sunday I was sitting in Tera's room with her while she was playing and my mind kept wandering as I watched her move around.  I love watching her.  A mother's bias (and lots of other people around me) makes me constantly wonder how she turned out so damn adorable; I could seriously watch her for hours.  But all of a sudden it occurred to me that she's going to need a backpack soon!

This next month will be an interesting one for us as we complete the final steps to Tera's transition to Early Childhood.  She will be evaluated on February 7th and 11th to determine her eligibility for services, we have her exit meeting with her current therapists on February 3rd, and we still need to set a date for her actual IEP meeting.  Then her Early Intervention services stop the day before her 3rd birthday and she will start preschool within a day or two of that.

I don't know what made me think of it.  I was just sitting there watching her and I realized that with the start of school soon, she would need a back pack.  And with that thought came a flood of emotions.  Mostly that I can't believe that she'll be three in a month, but also missing that little baby she once was.  

One of the best parts of having multiple digital frames in our house is that I can constantly see the stream of hundreds (okay, maybe thousands) of pictures we've taken of her since she was born.  But it also constantly throws me into an emotional state wondering where the time has gone and knowing I'll never have that time with the tiny little girl in those pictures again.  I know we'll make new memories and that we have unlimited great times to look forward to, but it doesn't change wanting that time with her back.  

She has changed and grown so much these past three years and I'm just so proud of everything she's been able to accomplish. There has been a lot of stress during that time too, but I don't think I ever could have imagined the happiness she would bring us. She is an incredibly funny, and oftentimes very unique, little girl. She has so much personality, and love, and compassion for someone so little. 

And so I will begin my search for a backpack for my "baby"...