Ruby has been growing up so much lately. She just suddenly seems taller and leaner and she definitely seems to have matured emotionally again (she does, of course, still have her moments, but where there was no impulse control before we are now seeing teeny little windows during which we can talk and process whatever her issues are together with her).

I think I'm not totally a baby person. While there are certainly many things I remember fondly about her baby days, I'm also not pining for those days and her little body and oh the little fingers and gummy smile. But I'm pining now. The change from pre-schooler to pre-kindergartner feels huge.

And so, with those feelings bubbling up more and more as I watch her assert her space and her personhood in our shared lives, I asked David to take this picture. When she's done with her bath I wrap her in this towel that Mamie made for her and pick her up like the baby she no longer is and we walk to the living room to get dressed; ready for one day to be over and a new one to start.