"Watch me, Mommy!"

When she was 2 years old we were at McDonalds and a girl two months younger ate an entire hamburger, was all over the play structure, very talkative, and calling repeatedly, "Watch me, Mommy!" "Look at me, Mommy, I'm sliding!" I was so depressed because at that time my daughter wasn't eating anything but one kind of yogurt and one brand of crackers, was afraid of the play structure, and wasn't even able to say, "Mommy", let alone an entire "sharing" sentence.

Today, almost 2 years later, she ate chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries tonight for dinner at home. Then outside in the backyard, she was leaping off her play structure and called, "Watch me, Mommy!" I was busy struggling with the hand mower, and for the first time, I had to stop what I was doing so I could turn to watch her. Then I realized that was the first time for a moment like that!

There's still a lot of things we can't do, but we've come a long way!