This picture was taken with my cell phone, but this was the very first time my baby girl put on dress up clothes, complete with little princess shoes.

Her Daddy set up her castle, she climbed in and I snapped this picture:

When Little Bug turned a year old, I felt like I had lost my “baby”. There didn’t seem to be much of any “baby” left in her on her 1st birthday.

But, she was still a baby at one year old.

Then, she turned a year and a half. And again I felt like I had lost my “baby”. She just seemed so grown up because she was talking up a storm and learning and doing new things daily.

But, at 18 months old, she really was still a baby.

Then, she turned two. I thought, “Yep. This must be when she will go from baby to ‘little girl’.”

But, at 2 years old, I could still find some “baby” in my big two-year-old.

Until she put on those dress up clothes, slipped her feet into the too-big, but oh so adorable princess shoes and then climbed into her castle saying, “Daddy you can come in here, too! You can sit right der.”

That was the moment for me when I knew my baby girl truly is growing up and becoming a little girl right before my very eyes.

She started prancing around our living room, going in and out of her castle, chattering the entire time about who-knows-what.

And I thought, Boy, they sure do grow up so fast.

I think her Wedding Day flashed before my eyes before I could suppress those thoughts and remind myself that Little Bug will always be my baby girl, no matter her age.

- Elaine