A couple of weeks ago, I asked Evelynn what she would like for her birthday and she reminded me that a Harry Potter comforter has been high on her wishlist. We searched a few different designs and she settled on one and my geek heart was thrilled to finally receive a rather large box from thinkgeek.com last night. There have been several moments in the last few months where she has dropped hints about the removal of certain items in her room. With her away it is the perfect opportunity to grant her simple wishes and to update her room. I have to say, there is nothing more telling that your girl is growing up than the removal of the doll house, the few remaining Barbies, the board books, the easy readers, and basically just the toys. She doesn't DO toys any more. What was once quite a girly room of pinks and florals and polka dots and all things squishy soft is now the room of a girl quite set on the next phase of life.
The sweet collection of books that she received as a baby has a new home on a shelf NOT in her room. Her biggest complaint of late has been not enough space on her shelves for "her books"-- the Harry Potter collections, the plethora of Rick Riordan books that thrill her, the books that say a pre-teen lives here now. My girl threw out a plethora of items a couple of days ago that she no longer wanted cluttering up her room. The only signs left of the little girl are the pictures of herself as a baby and a toddler. It's good to be Evelynn these days. So many new things happening to her life. New interests, new adventures, and a growing sense of perspective as she puts it all together in her head (which some days drives the mother insane).
I fully expect her to be taller than me in the next year (like that was the most difficult accomplishment to begin with). I expect that I will still catch her off guard as our relationship changes (she's already stopped me a few times giggling "MOM! What are you doing? I didn't see that coming.") I expect she will continue to be independent, yet dependent, and let me know about how that's not fair. I expect that we will still fall over in giggles, and our mutual appreciation for the ridiculous will thrive. I expect that she will continue to drive me bonkers with this new idea that maybe she doesn't have to check in with me or maybe I really didn't mean what I said. She will push and pull, and so will I. And it will be an ugly, beautiful mess. And she will be amazing. Eleven will be a good year for her.
And when she gets back from her weekend away, there will be a letter addressed to her from Headmaster Dumbledore accepting her into Hogwarts, complete with her 9 and 3/4 train tickets, book list, and Hufflepuff scarf. She has already told me it's coming. So I had to make it happen.
