I'm Not a Baby, I'm a Big Girl!

Do any of you remember this commercial?  The way this little girl talks is totally Audrey right now.  It's both super adorable and sad for me.

I remember when I was a nanny, the biggest insult you could give the 3-year-old girl I watched was calling her a "baby."  I thought it was funny but never dreamed of the day when my own little girl would be worried about the same thing.  You better not call this cute face a baby.  She's a big girl.

She just recently started saying, "I'm not a baby, I'm a big girl!" to Tony and me.  Yesterday I asked her what made her such a big girl and she responded, "I have long hair like Rapunzel."

My big girl has also somehow acquired a very strong opinion about anything and everything she wears.  Typically she will only wear dresses, sometimes long shirts with tights.  I spent all this money on clothes for her at the outlet mall and she refuses to wear any of it.  I'm talking Gap shirts, here!
She picked out this fabulous sunglasses at the mall and every time she puts them on says, "tell me I'm stylish, mom!"  I've decided that this fall I'm taking her shopping and she can pick her clothes.  I'm not going to waste a bunch of money on things she won't wear!

She very rarely sits in a high chair at restaurants any more, and sits in her booster seat at home.  She wants to sit in the big girl seat.

Yesterday I saw that Audrey's poor toenail was bent back and asked her how she got her owwie.  She told me, "my shoes squish my feet!"  Doh.  She's outgrown her SIZE 7 shoes!  This girl has flippers for feet!  I cannot believe how big her feet are.  I guess we're going shoe shopping this weekend!

Today as I watched Audrey eat her lunch, using her spoon perfectly scooping up her mac and cheese, taking a sip of juice from her "big girl" cup, and carefully wiping her mouth with a napkin -- it hit me.  She is a big girl now whether I like it or not.  We're entering a new phase of life together and I have so much to learn about this big girl stuff.  I wish she could stay my baby forever, but if I'm forced to let her become a big girl I want her to do it just the way she is.  Confident, happy, smart, beautiful, and loving life.