Milestones

Today I've been stuck on milestones. Firsts and lasts. Marked and unmarked. Big and small.

Ella graduates from kindergarten tonight (although she has school for another week). They're having a big ceremony in the gym. If it's like the other I've seen there, there will be a mortarboard with crayon tassel. Ella will say what she wants to be when she grows up. They will sing a song about being first graders.

Natalie stopped sucking her thumb (knock on wood). On Mother's Day I painted her fingernails. She said she was going to try not to suck her thumb, since it had polish on it. She still hasn't. I've wondered for a couple of years how we were ever going to get to this point and what it would take. We've tried this method before with no luck. But now it's been the last time (I hope). If I didn't remember sitting down with both girls on Mother's Day after going out to eat and painting their nails, I'd have no memory of when it actually was.

Captain America and I have discussed this before. The firsts and lasts that you don't think about or don't realize they're happening. The very last diaper change. First ice cream cones. The first time they chew gum. The last bottle. The last sippy cup. The first time Ella walked to school most of the way alone.

All these little things of parenting. Moments that aren't planned but just happen. No pomp & circumstance. But they're often equally exciting as the things that come with celebration.

I'm proud of both girls. Ella for thriving in school. Natalie for quitting the thumb. And I can't wait to see what's next, that perhaps months later we'll notice they've started or stopped.