Dinner Conversation

Our oldest, Gracie, is turning four next month. I can hardly believe that fact. It almost stops my heart when I think about it. How can that be? When did she learn to dress herself, and brush her teeth, and write the letter "A"? It feels as though I blink and she is different. Just today I was looking at her while she washed her little hands, and I could not help but see that she has turned into a little girl. She has become somewhat of a string bean (and those of you that know her are aware of her picky eating...) which is such a change from the little round sweet pea that she was when she was younger. She is tall for her age and almost lanky at times. Her hair grows longer each month, and she learns so many new things each day that it is impossible to count them. I am caught between loving the little girl she is becoming, and mourning the little baby she used to be. Do all mothers feel this way? I am sure they do. The joys of her new found girlhood are endless though, and I must say that they are quite adorable as well. We hear a lot of "Are you kidding me?" and "You are trying my patience" on a regular basis. She has learned to art of placing certain phrases where they belong, and of course she loves to use Mom and Dad's favorite sayings whenever she can. I could write a separate blog just about the phrases Gracie uses...
Which brings me to my blog title. Gracie has been eating at the dinner table with us since she could sit up, but only recently has she been really a part of "dinner" with mom and dad, or whomever is visiting at our table. She eats with us, and joins in the dinner conversation at random. Just the other night we had our dear friend Heather over for dinner. Now you must know that Gracie just adores Heather, and is always wanting to talk her ear off. She showed her just about every new toy or movie she got for Christmas, and had to fill her in on all of the details of her little life. Heather was beyond eager to oblige and "hung" onto Gracie's every word. Which just made Gracie glow from head to toe of course! As Heather was telling us a story, she used the word "hideous" to describe something. Gracie immediately asked, "Who's Hideous? Is he your cousin?" Of course we all giggled and then tried to explain that hideous was an adjective (I cannot help it, I am a teacher!). Keton and I find ourselves having to cover our faces frequently in order to hide our smiles and laughter when Gracie is rattling on and on. It becomes very difficult when she has been inappropriate (but down right hilarious!) and is in need of discipline, no laughter. Dad struggles with this in particular, and therefore I often end up with two "kids" to reprimand (ok, so Keton doesn't really get a reprimand, but boy does he get the stink eye!). I love that just a simple dinner conversation has become such fun and that laughter flows through our house with abandon. What would life be like without moments such as these?
Who knew that dancing around in your pjs to a Miley Cyrus song could be so fun? Or that you can build a fort in your bed with only pillows and books? When we started on the journey to parenthood, we heard many words of advice and warning. I had an idea of what it would be like to be mom to Gracie and Stella, but I truly did not realize how sore my abdomen would be from the fits of laughter that they cause me to have daily!
Too bad the laughter is not effective enough to wipe out the need for crunches and pilates...