Is this Child Mine?

On February 23, 2001, I gave birth to an 8lb 6oz baby girl. With her rosy-pink lips and jet-black hair, she was perfect. When we took her home she slept several hours a day and at least five hours straight through each night. If I didn't know better I'd have thought this baby was already two years old! She never was into being a baby, common for girls it seems, and she took any chance she had to become independent and ran with it. She walked at 9 months, a cruel joke on any mommy, and rarely cried when she was in childcare...she LOVED her teachers and being with kids her age! So what's wrong with that?

Only because I was there the 9 months I carried her inside me kicking like a soccer champion, am I willing to believe that this child is mine. We are so different in so many ways I have to work at encouraging her spirit and not smothering it with my fearful and loner ways. Throughout all of her six years, Jay has been outgoing, friendly, and as time passed the girl loved to shop for clothes and shoes. I wondered, as did many of our friends and family, how I gave birth to such a fashionista.

Jay is fully aware of the latest fashions. She refused to wear her all-black snow boots to school without packing a pair of shoes to wear during school because they weren't "fashionable". Later, her GanGan bought her the cutest green snow boots with fur creeping out of the top, Jay's reaction was "these boots are too ca-ute!" Her love for clothes and shoes baffles me, but I try not to stifle her because it's part of who she is.

Not only is my daughter into all things vogue, she is a friend magnet. Much like her father, Jay is friends with everyone in her class and with her 6th birthday quickly approaching, I couldn't believe I was truly inviting all 13 girls to her bash. In school, from kindergarten through college, I had no more than 2 or 3 good girlfriends. In elementary it was more like one! So watching the way Jay navigates her way through life is inspiring to someone who shyed away from all social encounters growing up.

The common stereotype of someone into clothes and very social tends to be that they don't put much effort into education. Not true of Jay. She is now reading close to a second grade level and she's only in her second semester of kindergarten! Jay enjoys learning and the challenge seems to be a big draw for her. She is amazing. Not a perfectionist, but she wants her work to show what she knows. I can only imagine the things she'll accomplish in her lifetime.

My daughter is bright, outgoing, funny and loves to dress well. Whenever I hear her reading to her brother or when she mentions how nice Beyonce's makeup looks at the Grammy's I marvel in the gift God saw fit for me to spend my life with. Although I can't believe she's mine, I'm truly blessed and thankful that she is.