Growing Up

Its inevitable. Some days I just want to hold their little feet and put them in my pocket. And other days I can't wait for when we can get rid of the high chair and bulky car seats.

As part of growing up, Kayla has now learned about the opposite sex. Let me explain - she knows what a penis is. And she just turned 5.  Last weekend, I opened the washroom door at my friend's house and was completely speechless and in utter shock when I saw Kayla sitting on the potty peeing and her friend, Sebastian, peeing standing up into the same potty! He was standing to the side of the toilet, peeing behind her, while she sat on the front 1/3 of the toilet peeing. And when I asked what was going on they both look at me and laugh, telling me they are "peeing together". Steve thought this might have been the first time she had seen a penis so when we casually ask her if she saw Sebastian's private part, she just giggles and says she didn't look. Then later this week she brings up that her friend Andrew at school, who is 6, approached her and 2 other girls in the classroom, asking if they've ever seen a penis. Yes he used the word "penis". He then proceeded to show them Kayla and her friend, while the other girl walked away because she had already seen one before! I don't think I even knew the word penis till Grade 4 when the  tampon lady came to our public school and spoke about periods and body parts. I can't believe Kayla is growing up..

Kayla's favourite colour is now pink. It was blue for the longest time but this year, starting with her birthday cake, she is requesting pink. Pink icing, pink shoes, pink dresses. While some may view it as she's becoming more girly, I think it has more to do with her falling into pure pressure of being more like her female school friends who are all into princess and fairies. She is growing up and is now starting to want to be more like her peers and to be accepted by her peers.

Aside from the pink, I love that Kayla is who she wants to be. She has no preconceived notions about what a girl should like and shouldn't like. How a girl should dress and shouldn't dress. What toys a girl should play with and what toys a boy should play with. This weekend she was picking bugs off the ground with her fingers and was playing super hero, running around the house with a cape and  telling me she had flying super powers.  She was also playing pirates with the neighbourhood kids and was using her tools to help Steve assemble some shelves. Without an older sibling and older friends, I love this moment in her life because it shows you without societal influence and pressures what Kayla is truly interested in. Who she truly is. I cherish her individualism but I know it will not last long as she already knows now that blue is a boy colour and that girls like pink. And Kayla's new favourite colour is now pink.