It is too much, I tell you

My little girl has run off to kindergarten.

And then she lost her first tooth.  (She was beaming and positively fit to burst when it came popping out. And the tooth fairy gave her ten whole dollars for it, too, because that is all the tooth fairy had in her wallet at the time.)

And we've started reading great big books together -- books with chapters.  (So far we've done Matilda, Because of Winn Dixie, The Doll Shop Downstairs, and we are half way through with Beezus and Ramona.)

And then she took up cross country at school.

And also soccer.

We bought uniforms, socks (red, white, and navy), tights, school shoes, running shorts, backpacks, PE shoes, sweaters with logos, shin guards, cleats, running shoes, more socks, pencils, colored pencils, glue (both sparkly pink and regular), and the list seems to just keep getting longer.

And we do homework together in the afternoon after school. (This includes writing out letters, cutting out paper things and sorting them into groups, etc.)

And her random drawings at home have drastically changed.  You can nearly tell what they are supposed to be without even asking her.

And she rides her bike now without training wheels, and goes surprisingly fast.

And she has started complaining about eating vegetables, which I hope is a passing phase. Actually, come to think of it, she seems to be complaining a lot more just in general.

And she is a little social butterfly. Once she sees her friends it is all over for the rest of us (me). Hopefully I had the presence of mind to hug the girl ten seconds earlier, because after that it's 'Mama? Mama who? Can't you see I'm busy?!'

And it is all too much, I tell you.

It is a beautiful and amazing thing to watch, really.  It is.  I am so proud of her.  And I am so in love with my little girl that my heart could crack in two. But OH! Oh, how I sometimes need to rest my head against a wall.