One of the characteristics of living things is that they grow. (According to Sesame Street, anyway.) This is a good thing, since the labor & delivery process is already difficult enough with small babies. I love watching how things grow and change over time. Some of our grass was actually knee-length; good thing the HOA gestapo didn't see!However, with all growth, comes some drawbacks: maintenance work. Eating, sleeping, cutting your hair, trimming your nails, and making sure you aren't growing in the wrong way -out- are all part of being an adult. In addition to those needs, children grow out of shoes, clothes, and beds. They need to learn new skills and appropriate behaviors as they get older. The M's are currently exploring the skill of identifying negative things and keeping it to oneself, as hard as that is at times.
Even as we grow, some things are hard to give up. Katrina's blanky is still the thing she wants when she's sad or sleepy, even though she has (thankfully) mostly dropped the habit of sucking on the corner. Favorite clothes, even to the point where they are unwearable... like the cutoff jeans that Katrina is wearing below-
I must admit, I have a hard time relinquishing things as I outgrow them or they outgrow me, by wearing out. They represent good memories or being comfortable. It seems the best solution is to replace them, but it never seems quite as good as the original. Like my blue and white striped cotton shirt that I wore in high school and college- I have forever been on a quest for a shirt like it since. Trouble is, I no longer like the way I look in horizontal stripes. Have I outgrown them?
