I was looking for some old photos yesterday. I knew I had kept some aside when packing all of our 'things' (ie my life) into storage for the period of time we are living in Munich. I finally found the ones I was looking for, old school photos of my friend Leanne and I. We both turn 40 any day now (head in the sand...40 is the new 30 right? Right.) and have been taking a walk down memory lane - photographically speaking! I also found a whole stack of baby photos of Emma. She was sooooo cute. I will have to scan them so I have them stored on the computer. It prompted me to have a good long hard think about how quickly my little girl has grown up. We have been here in Munich for 2 years and in that time her level of maturity has increased so much that it has just blown me away.
While it may sound wonderful to have the opportunity to move to a European country and live for a few years, to be honest it is really hard work with children. To go through the different stages of growth that they have, to have birthdays and other special occasions in their lives without their family and friends, to start over again with making friends, to fit in, to be part of the gang... well it's hard enough for me as an adult to make new friends, but for the kids it has been hard also. I'm proud of her, proud of both of my children for how well they have adjusted to life. Although Sean will never, ever get over the fact that they don't play cricket here, but that's another story.
Over the last few years my girl has gone from cutie-pie little side kick of mine, to her own individual person who is so incredibly independent that it scares me. She is about to turn 11 but she seems so much more like a 14 year old. The ferocious hormones have started to kick in. Not only is she obsessed with the boys in the grade above her, but things like I have to remind her that she needs to look after her skin with daily twice daily face washing. Ugh! Breakouts already? Oh come on, I was not prepared for this. I thought it would start happening when she was 14, not now!! And don't even get me started on buying underwear for my tween! I saw push-up padded bras for 10-11 year olds the other day...I kid you not! So before my eyes and with no way of slowing it down, she is becoming this glorious, self confident, clever, funny, witty, silly, stubborn (obviously gets that from her mother) and frustrating person... so so wonderful to watch, but also so so scary to see it all happen so quickly.
Because it is all happening so quickly and because I have not prepared myself for it to be happening so quickly (I'm a head in the sand kind of girl), Em and I have had our 'moments' of late but over the last 3 days while she has been away I have missed her like crazy. I knew I would, but I underestimated just how much. I'm the first to admit that I'm not coping well with the 'tween' years and they have only just started. Life really is a roller-coaster at the moment...give me strength to roll with the punches!
So I decided while I have the time on my hands to do it, I would put together a little album of Em photos for myself, just to remind me of how much she has grown up over the past few years. And to remind me that I need to appreciate all the wonderful moments that I have with my girl ... the good, the bad and the ugly. Because before I know it she will be really, really grown up...
Little princess...
my little ray of sunshine...and her little brother who is always following her around like her shadow. I would always let her choose which cake she wanted me to make for her birthday. She doesn't like eating cake much these days ('It makes you fat you know mum'! Oh please I want my baby back!). I've been baking marble cakes of late and she told me that she quite liked them and that was her favourite type of cake at the moment. So I made one so she could take some as a snack on the train to Berlin. ''No, i don't like that sort of cake, mum''. Oh well, I can only try...
Graduating preschool and starting Kindergarten...and not too happy about it. Em never did like starting big school. She cried every morning for most of her first year...broke my heart, but made us both stronger (I hope). This was the first time she ''cut'' her own hair - just before school started! A nice big chop to the fringe right down almost to the scalp! Nice work Em...
She was always my helper in the kitchen, but not so much these days unless it involves extra pocket money, and was always my little side kick when out at the shops...her favourite thing was to stop off at Bayswiss for a juice and cupcake....ahhh I loved those days so much.
Self hair 'cut' number 2...again to the fringe...please can we stop with the hair dressing now Em?
And her favouritest of all favourite things to do was play schools...usually with her brother, or who ever else she could get to sit still for more than a minute. She still loves to play schools to this day... perhaps a teacher in the making?
Christmas concert in borrowed dress from Bestie (thanks Issy) and the brand new big bike for birthday no. 7 (she didn't really ride it in the house). Now she is really growing up...the soft little cherub face is starting to disappear and the more mature Em is starting to appear...
Saying goodbye to our house in Sydney and bye bye to her beloved bedroom (well a girl's gotta have her stuff!)...
Saying bye to the school band... last concert played with them...
...saying goodbye to friends...
Saying a big hello to our new home in Munich...it was great to have some air freight boxes to make cubbies out of in our first few days and having a few loved things from home around us made us feel so much better and helped with the homesickness (a little)...
First day at the new international school...awwww, they look so tiny and cute and the school looked so big and imposing, not like our little school at home...and making new friends in our new city...
..but life in an international school means friends come and go so quickly...saying good bye to old-new friends who are moving on means the 3 Amigos were no more! Showing mum and dad around the classroom...
...looking so grown up and acting so grown up...makes me sad and proud all at once....plus a new school year means making new friends again, perhaps 2 peas in a pod!
My big girl....I discovered just before she set off for Berlin the other day that she has, AGAIN, cut her own hair...I wondered why she had been putting it up ALL the time and pinning her fringe back- the one that we had just managed to grow out so her hair was all the one length...Oh boy, I thought we were over the self hairdressing...but no...it continues to this day...a wonky fringe and chunky ''bangs'' Suzi Quatro mullet style... nice one Em!! A trip to the hairdressers is in order this weekend!
But I love her so! She is still my little princess.
Someone once told me that it was so important for mothers and daughters to have some special one on one bonding time...to do something together, just the two of you. She was so right.
Now, to plan something special for me and my girl to do when she gets back from her field trip...
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