DeeDee moments

Whether my daughter thinks of me as a wonderful mom or not, when she grows up, right now I am amazed by her ideas and behaviours. It is true that motherhood is synonymous with sacrifice and struggle, but I am also on the receiving end of some interesting, insightful experiences for which I am grateful to my little one.
 I took her for her appointment with her pediatrician. On the drive I told her she will receive injections and it'll only be a tiny prick, won't hurt much ; I told her, "You're now a big girl and you should co-opearte". She nodded in agreement. But I was blown away by how still she sat and took 2 shots, one on each arm, unflinched. No tears, no scuffle, absolutely no resistance. She also took a vision test - Without the slightest intervention from me, the nurse and my daughter communicated and worked with each other to complete the test. I watched as the nurse explained to my daughter and asked her to tell whether the 3 lines of letter E were pointing toward a boy/girl/rabbit/bird , looking through a big binocular, while the nurse stepped through different slides. It was the first time I saw her have a somewhat long interaction with a stranger, understanding and replying correctly without any help from parents.
 After Halloween and trick-or-treating, my daughter is in possession of  twenty-some candies and is feeling on top-of the-world! She is displaying remarkable restraint. She has been told she can have only one candy a day. I deliberately didn't put away the stash and have kept it in plain sight to see if she can hold up. I wouldn't be too upset if she couldn't adhere to my ruling and ended up eating 2-3 candies in a row. But she isn't. She carries her little orange bucket of goodies everywhere she goes, up n down the stairs. She takes them out and observes them, the colorful wrapping, the names spelled out in bright reds, oranges and greens and then puts them all back in. She even came and told me ' Ma , If I eat more than one, I'll go to garage'. But she hasn't violated. For all of 3 years of age, I am quite surprised at this level of maturity.
   In as much as she makes me proud, such instances immediately make me feel a twinge of pain at how fast she's growing up, how soon she's acting all mature and grown-up. Sometimes, I tell her, "you're my baby!" and her quick retort is "amma, I am big-girl-ing!". And I go "Nooooooo!".