My brown-eyed girl is 5!!!

The Princess of the Beautiful Dawn celebrated her birthday yesterday with a frenzy of present opening, sweets at school and the smallest dinkiest birthday cake we've ever made. She is also having a pink party tomorrow, so she won't feel cheated of a proper sized cake,a s she's getting a bigger one then.



My baby is 5! I know, I know, the other mothers told me the time flies by and enjoy every minute, they're the best years of your life, etc etc. Did I listen? Did I listen? And did I hear what they said to me?





Yes, I darned well did. I stayed at home until nursery hit, I passed my days in play until the house looked like a nursery itself, all toys, painting and play dough. I let part of me slide because there wasn't the time, space or inclination to be 'me' in that way. And now, God bless her, she's 5, at school, a well-balanced and happy girl. And I am free to be 'me' again.





And guilt free, too. I can concentrate on getting the shadow of a career again. I can make things and enjoy the experience without the niggling feeling I have to change a nappy/ collect from nursery/ put another video on. I even, for goodness sake, have a clean sink every so often!


My beautiful princess and her princeling brothers are still my favourite waste of time. I love to make things for her (hence the hairbands; nostalgia flooded over me as I made them, they are so like the ones my mother made for me at her age) and I can still spend lots of time playing house with her, but I treasure these moments. It won't be long before this time, too shall pass. But I'll think about that.... sometime.