Miss Independent.

Summer is (unofficially) over. AB is back in school. New teacher. New babysitter. New backpack. New kicks. In the mornings when I do her hair, she watches The Electric Company instead of Sesame Street. There is no hassle at the door with shoes because she can tie them herself. At drop-off, instead of walking her to her classroom door she requests that we say our goodbyes about 10 feet away from where her classmates line up because she's a "big girl" now and can go by herself.

This morning she said to me with a huge grin, "Aren't you glad that your child is growing up?" (I kid you not.)

Yes....and no.

It is rather incredible to see her able to do all this new things without my help. It makes me feel like I'm doing a pretty good job at this parenting thing. But at the same time, there is a slight sadness that she doesn't need me to help her do these things anymore. Then I see how excited she is about everything, and the sadness disappears.

As I watched her confidently walk away from me this morning, I had a moment where I thought, there is no going back.

Look out, world, Miss Independent is coming through.

Articles of Interest.

{Image via The Alantic}

A round-up of interesting articles about books, parenting, creativity, and education from around the web:

• 8 Great Picture Book Biographies - Reading Rockets 
• What Grown-Ups Can Learn From Kids Books' - The Atlantic
• Gear for a Stellar First Day of School - Daily Candy
• How to Read a Victorian Novel - Novel Readings
• Back-To-School Blues - My Brown Baby

Happy Reading!