Slides, Stairs, and Pigeons.

Stella is no longer a baby. She’s a toddler, but not a baby. I try to deny this fact, most of the time. I deny it when she just wants to sit on my lap and play with my hair, while I kiss her cheeks. I deny this every night when I get to watch her eyes close, as I rock her to sleep, and sing in her ear. And, I deny this when I am getting ready for work in the mornings, and see her curled around Glenn’s arm, because she has always slept better when she can feel one of us near her. So, like all kids, Stella has her moments when she unknowingly yanks me out of my dreamland, where she is the baby. This weekend was no exception.
We love going to the park. I get a kick out of climbing on the toys with Stella, and showing her how to climb up the slides, and ladders. This past weekend, Little Miss decides she is not only ready to climb up the slide by herself (well, with minimal assistance from mom), but that she is can also slide down by herself. Not only that, but she no longer climbs down stairs backwards, either. She holds on to the hand rail, and walks down. This may all seem so dramatic, but, as many of us know, most things are dramatic with a first child. I suspect that I will be the mom who cries the first days of preschool, and Kindergarten. Sigh.
On a different note, we took Stella to Union Square this weekend to chase some pigeons (she's never really seen them before). Just as much fun to be the observer, as the chaser. Of course, leaving the city having spent an hour wandering around the Disney store carrying as many princess dolls as Stella's little arms could manage, as well as some new Cinderella jammies, wasn't a bad way the end our adventure.