My Baby is 16!

My oldest turns 16 today! It's so hard to believe that sixteen years ago I was a nervous, new mom, totally unprepared. This morning the girls asked me about my labor. It was quick and easy. I went in to the hospital at 9:30am and had her around noon, with only a half a dose of demoral. She was an impatient little one, eager to get out of there. In fact, one of the nurses told me, "You have the most impatient baby I've ever seen!" I should have heeded the warning.

One of her younger sister's first sayings was, "End of cussin, Nane-a! End of cussin." She heard, too many times, "End of discussion, Jaena," come from my mouth. And this was when Jaena was only three years old!

At five, she told me that there was no such word as "muffler" and that she was smarter than me. At FIVE!

Today though, she has turned into a polite, loving, respectful 16 year old. I'm not sure how or when. Maybe I did something right in the discipline area. I know there was a lot of disciplining done in those younger years. She didn't let me slide on anything.

One of my favorite things is listening to her play the piano or guitar when she thinks I'm not listening. She has a talent, a gift. And it makes me happy to hear her using it.

She's gone through some hard things in these sixteen years. stitches on her birthday, repeating first grade, not making the cheer squad in high school. But these things have all made her a stronger person. And that is a lesson I needed to learn too. Protecting a child from pain makes them weak. Every hard experience strengthens. And she's a strong, independent, responsible sixteen year old.

I only have three more years with her. NOOO! How do I stop time?