Never Grow Up

"To you, everything's funny/ You got nothing to regret/ I'd give all I have, honey/ If you could stay like that/ Oh darlin', don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up/ Just stay this little/ Oh darlin', don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up/ It could stay this simple." - "Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift

This is what I sang to Alana at naptime today. She has always loved babies, ever since she was one, and lately she has been on this kick where she wants baby. A real live baby. Not a little brother or sister, but a baby of her own. When I commented on how she will be such a good mommy when she grows up, she threw her hands in the air and exclaimed, "I can't wait that long!" Whoa. She's only four!

So, for the child who wants nothing more than to be an adult, "Don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up, just stay this little". The last four years have gone by in the blink of an eye, so I hope the rest of her childhood slows down a bit before it's gone.

High Heels and Sneakers

"She wears high heels/ I wear sneakers/ She's cheer captain/ And I'm on the bleachers." - "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift

Alana, the four-year-old I teach, is both of the girls described in this song. Over the weekend she had been climbing a tree and fell out, hitting her face on a fence on the way down. Ouch! Luckily she was fine, except for a big bruise on her cheek. I wasn't there to see it, but her parents told me about the accident while Alana looked on, wearing a princess dress, plastic high heels, and applying pretend make-up. If it were up to her, she would be outside climbing trees and making mudpies while wearing the frilliest dress possible (it has to twirl!) and fancy high heels. She is a girly-girl-tomboy, and when we heard this song on the radio on the way home from school today, she shouted, "Hey, that singer is singing about me!" Too funny!