Beautiful Girlhood, my daughter never ceases to amaze me

My oldest and I are working through Beautiful Girlhood by Mabel Hale (revised by Karen Andreola) along with The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood by Shelley Noonan and Kimberly Zach.  I've been enjoying spending this special one on one time with my oldest and cherish these moments of closeness knowing how fleeting they are.  Sometimes though, I wonder how much is she really listening and how much is she really getting out of this.  Does she really understand what the author is getting at about her being on the edge of "womanhood".  Afterall, she's still just a little girl, right?

This is her journal entry for Chapter 2.  

It's hard to make out exactly what she wrote, but the beginning part is a description of a favorite memory from childhood.  The memory is nice enough but,  she then added a picture with a little poem on the bottom.  That's the part that amazed me the most. 


The picture is of a mother (me) and daughter (her) walking through the woods.  Behind them, on the forest floor are toys.  Ahead of them there is a little black smudge.  Her poem is:

Do I go back and play? 

What does your little one say?

Your sister says "Go back!"

But what is that black thing ahead?

The "black thing" is the unknown calling her forward leaving her childhood behind.  sniff sniff.  Talk about making her Mama cry!  (I did manage to hold it together, I was just tearing up inside)  The good thing is, even though she grasped what we were talking about, she is adamant that she will remain a little girl forever.  She is in no hurry to grow up. 

The time is going by so fast and I know I can't stop the inevitable but for now, I relish that my 9 year old still delights in being my little girl.