Oh! How Time Passes!…
Looking in the mirror I see an older version of the person I used to be. Quite a natural occurrence for most of us, but where the time has gone I am not quite sure. Last week my youngest child turned fifteen (?!?!); no longer a child, but not quite an adult either.
Casting my mind back, it really doesn’t seem that long ago since I packed my bags and trundled up to the hospital to have my daughters birth induced. She was comfortable in my belly and seemed to be taking her time in making an appearance, not really wanting to come out to face the real world (who can blame her?)…Or knowing my daughter now, she was planning to enter this world on her own, but not before she was good and ready to.
My (Not So Little) Bundle Of Joy…
Everything that Catherine (my daughter) does, she does with determination. Not such a bad thing now, but back then she was determined to suck every last drop of milk from me and then some.
She was determined not to be confined by her cot…She first climbed out of her cot at about a year, after mastering walking at ten months (every Mothers nightmare!)… It was a battle of the wills, but after a long and sleepless week of showing her that I could be just as determined at keeping her in her cot, she learned that climbing out wasn’t going to mean more playtime or food. Bedtime was bedtime.
Another problem was that she also learned how to climb out of her playpen, so I had no safe place to pop her when I was busy…
When she was learning to read she was insistent (determined) that the word CAT actually read as BUTTERFLY. She wanted so much to be able to read without having to learn…She is very rarely without her nose out of a book these days, so it must have been her want to read and lack of patience that was driving her determination back then.
Even Back Then She Could Hunt Out Chocolate With Her Keen Sense Of Smell!…
Chocolate was for a treat only and I really didn’t let the children have it very often. I remember one year my sister bringing some Milky Bars over for the children, from the UK, which I put away in the cupboard in our bedroom. Only to be sniffed out by young girl with a nose like a her Mums for chocolate!
The story goes that one afternoon, an unnatural quiet fell upon the house. I went looking for Catherine only to find her sitting quietly in the bottom of the cupboard in our bedroom polishing off the Milky Bars; when I found her she had already polished off two and was well into her third (for anyone who doesn’t know what Milky Bars are, they are child sized white bars of chocolate…Well they were back then!). On realizing that she had been rumbled, she proceeded to stuff what remained of the third bar into her mouth…It was one of those moments when Mum had to at least try and keep a straight face whilst reprimanding a wide eyed, butter wouldn’t melt in their mouth toddler.
I kick myself now for not getting a picture as the look on her face was classic.
Another Thing Catherine Has Become Known For Is…
Her ability to shoot a person down with just a look.
She has never been what you could call a smiley child and as she doesn’t suffer fools lightly her ‘look’ is never far from her face.
We have many photographs of Catherine shooting a look. but I promised that I would only share some of my favourite pictures of her smiling. It is her birthday after all…Okay, it was her birthday last week and I’m late in writing this post!
Some Of My Favorite Photos Of My Daughter In Her Younger Years…
I can’t say that Catherine’s personality has changed much over the years; she is still as determined as ever!
Her Hopes For The Future Are…
To finish her studies in the UK.
Her dream is to get into Cambridge University to study literature and I say follow that dream (unfortunately in this case her dream is limited to our budget. But still…Follow that dream as you never know!). Her goal in life is to be a writer and I am sure that her steely determination will help her to achieve that goal.
Catherine; My Fifteen Year Old Daughter…
A daughter I couldn’t be more proud of!…Just try not to grow up too fast!…And remember whatever you do in life or whatever you become I will always love you…xx
© 2015 – 2017, Debbie. All rights reserved.
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