So Brave

Life has been pretty busy lately. I've been doing a ton of freelance work, which is a good thing, but after writing at work and then writing at home, Manifesto-ing has taken a backseat. This isn't much of a big deal, other than I regret not writing down some of the funny things our kids have been doing lately.

Overnight, Paige has gone from being our cute little monster to a cute little "big girl." I blame it on the new year. After 19 months of her absolutely hating nursery, we suddenly found ourselves walking her to primary--our little girl, now a Sunbeam.

I haven't made too big a deal out of baby landmarks. It's great when they start crawling, it's awesome when they walk and talk. I've never thought of these as things to feel sad about it or to mourn the "growing up" of it all. But taking my little girl to nursery, that was a tough one.

We were extremely nervous, especially given Paige's stranger shyness and hatred of all things church. Surprisingly, she went in without incident. Phew.

Picking her up, however, was not so easy. Our big girl seemed very little when we saw her again, her eyes swollen and red from two straight hours of crying. My first thought was, 'That's it, we're homeschooling her. We can't send her away.'

But things have gotten better. Through bribery, trickery, and the fact that she really likes singing time, our the little big girl has now become a primary champion. Though she cries and tells us she doesn't want to go every week, once she gets there she has a good time. And then, for the duration of sacrament meeting--and several hours thereafter--she says, "I was so brrrave (nicely rolling the "r") at Primary today!"

But last Sunday was the payoff. News to us, it was one of those days where the Primary kids go up and sing a song during sacrament meeting. "Oh, Paige, go up there," Traci said, both of momentarily forgetting she was one of those kids. Up she went.

Because she's just miniature, they put her right in front, with her chin resting on the front railing of the stage. Of course, she didn't sing any of the words, she just stood there, grinning from ear to ear. And of course, there we were, waving like idiots from the back row. So very proud.

When she came back, we told her she was brave. And then she told us.