yesterday, we have sent off daughter to her first field trip. this wasn't really her first time, but it was her first time to go without us as her chaperone.
my daughter though she's already seven is still a baby. she still has to figure out how to zip her skirt, tie her shoe lace and a lot of other stuff. admittedly we're a bit behind in setting her leash loose. so i have been anxious for days now knowing that she will be out the whole day on her own. she will need to clean up after herself, find her way through her bag of food, towels, wipes, shirt, juice and must manage to find everything she needs without any help. i was most worried about her wee-wee breaks. public toilets scare me and i was scared for her. so last night i talked her through our public toilet routine. wipe the seat clean... lay over sheets of toilet paper on the seat... etc. i must have said the word yucky so many times that moment just to prove my point. then there's the issue about pocket money. my child doesn't handle money. it would have been easy if we don't give her money at all. but we gave her money anyway just in case she finds something she likes. it would be heartbreaking to find out she was the only child in class not holding a lollipop which everybody bought in the kiosk.
as i picked her up from school after her trip, i was expecting to see her hair messed up, shoes and shirt dirty. i was ready to hear sob stories from my little girl on how she found it hard to eat in the bus without a table, or how she tried so hard looking for her spoon and fork in her bag but couldn't find it, how she got lost in the museum and somehow found her way back. i was ready to give her my hugs for that.
but when i saw her in her classroom waiting, she was still beaming. hair was slightly messy but she's ok. i asked her how her day was. she said she lost her wallet. oh dear, here we go... i noticed she was holding a teddy bear. she said she bought it from the doll factory. she also told me that one of her classmates had given her money so she can buy it. i quickly told her she must not borrow money again and that we would return the money her classmate gave her. then she told me she has a surprise for me. from her small bag, she excitedly brought out a small doll with red hair. she said she bought it for me because she knew that i would love it. and i do! how can i not love it? i fought back a tear or two thanking her and told her it was very thoughtful.
can a baby do that? can a baby think of getting her mommy a present? certainly not. alas, certainly, our little 7 year old is no longer a baby. she may still have her childish ways most days but she does things that surprise me. just like this red haired doll from the factory. that doll could still be sitting quietly in that factory shop had my little girl not thought of buying it for me. my little big girl gave her a home. a home where a baby is starting to outgrow her baby ways and whose mom and a dad just realized that.
