The old addage…”choose your battles carefully” has been glaring me in the face at every turn this week.  I think as a parent, we probably face more of these days but life is what is and so we choose as we feel we must.

Before

My daughters are both strong willed.  They are stubborn and hard hea

ded.  They are very much my children and I love them for that.  My oldest daughter has been asking for a hair cut for a few weeks (since her daddy told her she needed one) and so I called my hair dresser.  Now I must preface this with the fact that my daughter HATES (with a passion) to brush her hair and I threaten on many occasions to shave her head so she won’t have to but I do not cut it really short.  Shoulder length – yes.  I’ve gone as far as about chin length once but that was a long time ago and ONLY once.

Today however when we walked into the salon and the hairdresser said “So…what are we going to d

o it” I just sat there.  My daughter, my opinionated daughter who knows what she wants chimed in “Cut it short…off my ears short.”  Our hairdresser has been cutting the family’s hair long enough to take one look at me and say “Mom – really?”  I however just took a deep breath and said…”Do whatever she wants.”

In the end – she won this battle and I kept my sanity…and well…I think it’s pretty cute too!

After

On the eve of my return from BlogHer, I sat down with my oldest, DQ and chatted about all the wonderful things I saw in NYC as we packed her bag for the first day of 3rd grade.  I asked her if she was excited as she carefully picked out just the right outfit for Monday morning and reassured her that even though I had to go to work, I would be back in time to take her to school.  The one thing I enjoy most about that first day of school is walking her to her class and this year was no exception.

Work is hectic at times, life is busy all the time it seems, but there is nothing like that ‘First day of School’ to remind me just how quickly time flies and how precious it really is.  You see, we chatted idly as we waited for the bell to ring and I asked again if she was “excited.”  This time she replied with ‘Yes, but I’m shy and what if my friends are not in my class?’  I always find this statement odd, because MY CHILD (very much like her momma) is not shy and can talk your ear off if given the chance.  “Well hon, I think you will just have to take a deep breath and smile and say ‘Hi’ to a new friend, if you do not know anyone from last year.  You can be nervous, but I promise they won’t be strangers for long.”

She smiled and when the bell rang grabbed my hand as we walked down the hall together in search of her new class.  It reminded me of the previous 3 years I’ve held my daughters hand as we walk towards her new class and each year she says the same thing “I’m excited, but I’m shy” and by the time the day is over, she’s made a new friend or two.  This year however, when we arrived at her class, she greeted her teacher with a ‘high 5′ and walked in confidently instead of holding my hand all the way.  This year, when she found her desk she simply began unpacking her backpack and said...”Ok, bye Mom with a wave” instead of the usual hug I’ve received so many times before.  This time, my little girl was not so little and took her first (of many) confident steps into the world around her without my hand. 

This time…she took a deep breath, smiled and said ‘Hi.’