Milestones

When Caroline was born, I knew I would look forward to each of her milestones. Rolling over, crawling, walking, talking. As time passed and she met each, there was always one more I was anticipating. And strangely, this one doesn't appear in any baby books. There's little talk of it on Baby Center. Moms don't stand on the playground comparing notes over this milestone, subtly trying to top each other. This one seems to pass more quietly, with less fanfare. But for me, this was the one that brought tears to my eyes. This was the one that made me look again and again to make sure it was really happening. This was the one worth a picture.

I climbed out of the shower yesterday to a strange sense of quiet. Katherine was playing with the Playmobile dolls as she often does but I didn't hear Caroline. She wasn't talking to her imaginary class full of children or leading her pretend family on outings. I didn't hear the usual clink of scissors or scratch of pencils. I only heard quiet from her room.

I slowly opened her door to this scene



My little girl reading a chapter book all by herself.