This week something crazy happened:

My girls got big.

Big firsts

Kiwi ate her first food. (No, I’m not counting the snow.) She’s acted ready for weeks now, but I just hadn’t gotten around to it, and I wasn’t keen on the possibility of messing up her sleep, reflux and sensitive stomach even more. But this week we made it happen.

I had planned on pureeing sweet potatoes, as I did for Peeper’s first food almost exactly two years earlier, but I didn’t manage to cook them. So I just mashed up a banana with a fork, swirled in some breastmilk and called it good.

(Isn’t that funny how a baby’s first food is such a big deal with your first kid, and with the second one, not so much?)

Kiwi seemed more confused by the banana than anything, but she didn’t hate it! She had several bites and Peeper even fed her a few. And when Kiwi took a bite, Peeper clapped and cheered! It’ll be fun to continue to offer foods and witness her palate—and appetite—expand. Who knows, maybe Kiwi’s culinary adventures will even inspire Peeper to eat more (though I’m not holding my breath).

Big girl in a big bed

Peeper also met a milestone: She transitioned to her big girl bed.

Eric’s dad helped put the hand-me-down bed together. Eric and I had figured we’d just leave it in Peeper’s room until she got used to it and wanted to sleep there, but we could hardly get her out of her room once the bed was up: All she wanted to do was pretend to sleep!

She chose her new sheets and lined up all her stuffed animals (and some of Kiwi’s). She made herself right at home.

All winter break the family has been taking turns putting Peeper to bed at night, but I wanted to do it that night. I read her a book and sang a few extra songs. I wasn’t sad, but I was emotional. The transition really hit home that Peeper is growing up so fast. I don’t want to hold her back—in fact, I revel in each development and can’t wait to see who she becomes—but I did feel like I was saying goodbye to a part of her toddlerhood.

After I put her to bed, we turned her monitor up extra loud as we played cards. I expected a little bit of drama as she transitioned, but she just sang Christmas carols and rolled around until she drifted off. Then she slept all night long.

Final firsts

These milestones are even more poignant because Eric and I have decided that our little family is complete at four. In fact, I packed up the impossibly tiny onesies and pajamas Kiwi has outgrown and sent them off to someone who’s expecting a girl in May. (How were my girls ever small enough to fill them out?) My littles will never again be that small.

Kiwi’s mashed banana was my last-first food as a mom. There will be many more last-firsts as she continues to grow. But as I leave behind baby and toddler phases, they grow into new stages. They grow into tiny giants.