In the twinkling of an eye

 Have you ever looked at one of your children and it seems they have grown years in seconds? In the twinkling of an eye, they are changed from a child to a young person. Well, not only has Zoe had a major growth spurt (as in the clothes that we bought at the begining of the school year don't fit) she has grown so much emotionally.
Zoe has started showing interest in babysitting, which is huge. I didn't think she would ever be very interested. She watches Felix and Lydia at the church for me while Liam and I do Scouts. She has held down the fort at home several times while I ran to the store for an item, etc.
Zoe has put forth a lot of effort to work through her relationship problems. Mostly I am thinking about her relationship with Lydia. They have really been like water and oil for a few years, but Zoe is making efforts to work things out. Instead of running and tattling to me, she is using words to work it out. I have seen this same thing with friends, too. There have been a few times where I have asked her, "do you want me to get involved?" and she just says she will work it out. I am proud of her.

 I am proud of the efforts she has made in school. She has never loved reading and isn't super excited about putting a lot of effort into homework, but she is trying harder all the time. It's not like I could push her into it! She has to be self-motivated.
She has always been super observant, especially about people. She says things about people and I think, "how did she even know that?". Since she is getting more grown up, she often prefers adult company to that of the younger children. She is in that phase where she sits and listens to everything the adults talk about, then has questions about the conversation. We have to be careful.
I love that she is still relatively naive. I had a modified "TALK" with her the other day and loved seeing her innocence. She had a few questions that she asked unabashedly. She was a little weirded out, but not uncomfortable talking to me. Thank goodness, she still thinks that boys are gross.

Zoe LOVES to laugh. True, sometimes it is not at the most appropriate time. She just loves to be silly. I love to hear her spontaneaus laugh when something strikes her as funny. The other day she wasn't feeling well, so she was home from school. We turned on The Gods Must Be Crazy and had so much fun laughing together. I was so glad that she stayed home from school!
We are so amazed by all the huge changes in our little girl. I have to say I am happily surprised what a fun, engaging, funny, smart tween she is turning into.