My baby is long gone

Where is baby Peyton?

I peeked in on Peyton the other night after she had fallen asleep - like I do every night before I head to bed. She happened to be stretched out on top of her covers, and I was taken aback by just how big she has gotten. She stretched more than half the length of the bed, mostly by her long legs.

But it isn't just her physical appearance that is growing by the second. She is maturing by leaps and bounds every day. Her vocabularly has always been big, but she is putting together compound sentences with the proper usage of words that some adults probably don't know.

She is becoming increasingly independent and regularly gets dressed by herself in the morning before even coming into our room. She is recognizing words in books, sounding out the first part of words, and asking thoughtful questions.

She has always been very concerned about others, but her love of her friends and family is more evident by the day. When I was getting ready to go out to dinner with Martin for our anniversary she said, "Hold on Mommy. I have something very special for you to wear tonight. But you have to give it back when you're done because it is important to me." She handed me a sterling silver bracelet my sister gave her to commemorate her baptism.

She is becoming increasingly curious about tough subjects like death and Heaven. I have no idea where this comes from, but she asks me all the time about Gizmo, our former cat who died when she was about 18 months old. I'm sure she doesn't actually remember Gizmo, but she has seen a picture of her. She told me Gizmo is in heaven and she misses her, but she will always be her cat, and one day she will get to see her again.

She is also very interested in ranking her friends from oldest to youngest. She is very proud of the fact that she is older than Scott ("I'm the oldest because I was born first.") but irked that she is younger than Gabriella ("It's not fair that Gabriella turns five before me. Why aren't I going to be five at the same time?")

Just like every other parent there are many moments when I want to stop time. Most days, she seems to be four going on fourteen. But then there are the moments when she tells me, "I never want to leave you and Daddy," or "You're my best friend, Mommy."

I know I can't stop her from growing up, but I hope her innocence stays young forever.