"Dress?"

So last night Tara sure shocked us again into realizing that she is growing up, whether we're ready or not. I had been in the kitchen making blackberry syrup out of some of the fresh blackberries we had picked as a family. Tara and Sean were in the livingroom playing. I was focusing on what I was doing, but also recognized that for the past couple of minutes I'd heard her saying "Dress?" "Dress?" Then Sean says to me "Honey-she keeps asking for a dress! What should I do?" I said "Get her a dress, I suppose.." It was just minutes away from her bedtime, but I didn't see why I couldn't let her play dress up real quick while I finished the syrup. So I go into her closet, and retrieved one of her dresses. I walked into the livingroom and handed Tara the dress, and she said "Thank you!" Our bedroom isn't far from the livingroom, and she promptly walked over to our bedroom, opened the door, and walked in. She then turned around and said "I get dressed" and then shut the door! We started laughing at how cute she was. She opened the door a couple moments later, and said "Mommy help!" She was struggling with removing her shirt, and was a bit distraught. I motioned for her to come into the kitchen so I could help her-and she looked at me like I was crazy. She emphatically said "No...Daddy will see!" She was shy, and wanted her privacy! She'd never cared before! It was so darling, and it was so hard for Sean and I to stifle the laughter...I walked into our bedroom, and she ended up needing help turning on the light in the bedroom since she can't reach, and she also needed help removing her shirt. So after I turned on the light, and got her shirt off, I asked her if she wanted help getting the dress on; and she said "No. I got it." So I left. She came out a couple minutes later, and she had put the dress on...just not all the way. The sleeves to the dress were rolled under into the top of the dress, and because of that the dress wasn't hanging correctly on her body. Due to this all, she walked out looking like she was wearing a strapless dress, that only hit mid-thigh. But boy-she was SO incredibly proud of herself for doing it all by herself! We told her "Good job Tara!" She was so cute!!!


*sigh*


When did she grow up?