no, wait, this can't be happening.

Lily woke up yesterday morning and she was no longer a little kid. She is no longer a small child and her body and her self have become all her own.

I didn't see this coming - even though I'd been warned. My friend and running partner, Courtney, had told me this summer. Seven was the age that turns them from little to big. I wouldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. Lily was little and she was going to stay that way.

Wrong.

Yesterday when I went to pick Lily up from dance class she came from the dressing room with her leotard skirt hanging out of the back of her pants. The rule of the studio is that the girls must be covered completely when they are out of class. I didn't even think twice about tucking her skirt in her pants without asking or suggesting she do it herself.

You see, when you kids are small, they are an extension of yourself. There is no part of them that is off-limits to you. You wipe their bum, pick their nose and help them with their bath. This is just part of being a mother to a small child. Moms are there for keeping you clean and comfortable.

It turns out that when you have a regular kid, there is a bubble. I hadn't realized that the bubble was coming. I hadn't realized how grown-up she'd gotten. So, when I tucked her skirt into her pants for her she was mortified. "Moooom!" came a hissing whisper in my ear. I then tried to immediately cover my awkward mistake by hugging her. When she was a small child and I would hug her she would fold herself into me. Apparently, now that she's a kid, she stiffens her body and starts looking sideways away from me. It was then that I realized; it was then that I saw the light. Lily is not a baby. She is not even a young child. She has reached a milestone and I was the last one to receive the memo.

I was sad after that. I didn't exactly feel bad that I'd embarrassed her. I feel like that's a part of life. Your parents are there to do things like that. I was feeling bad because we are at the point in her life that she is now embarrassed to have her mom mothering her in public. Gaaaaaa MOOOOM!!! is all I keep hearing.

Keeping this revelation in mind, imagine this morning. We are on our way to Lily's school. I glance in my mirror and notice that Lily's hair isn't completely combed. I am annoyed because I had tried to fit too much into our morning and time ran out for me to run the comb through her hair myself. I say out loud, "Oh, Lily, we didn't get your hair combed all the way. Darn it. It always looks so pretty when we can get all the tangles out."

"Oh, it's okay, Mom. These things just happen sometimes. Just like when you ruined my Christmas."

Whaaaa....tttt???

"Well, yeah. When my Christmas was ruined this year."

"What are you talking about? Didn't you get everything you wanted this year? Didn't we have fun?"

"Yeah, I got my underwater video camera - which I wanted. And I got my sparkly Littlest Pet Shop - which I wanted. But it was still ruined."

"How was it ruined?!"

"I don't know."

"Well, if it was ruined, than you've got to have a reason why."

"Well, I was put in my room several times."

Shit. This ride is about to get crazy!