I realized the other day my baby is growing up. Fast. We went to my in-laws to celebrate my father in-law’s birthday yesterday and we ended up down by the lake despite the sprinkles and chill in the air.

Alice warmed to the water slowly- first curious about the dock and the water, then fascinated with what the dog was doing and seeing the fish swim. The air temperature and water temperature were remarkably close and hovering around 65 degrees. After soaking her pants, I stripped her of both those and her soaking diaper only to find a little more than water. I headed up to the house to grab a wipe and returned to find her in the water with G-Pa being “rinsed” by spinning her in circles by her arms with her legs in the water.

She loved it.

More! More!

Again!

Again!

She played in the water until her shirt was also soaked. Before I knew it she was naked as the day she was born, waist deep in cold lake water happy as a clam. The party came to an end when she lost her balance and tipped over face forward and dunked her head. She was startled but fine, though as the temperature dropped adults overruled her and we headed up to the house for a warm towel.

Last summer it was all we could do to get her in the water. We spent a week at the beach in Maine and she never warmed to it, and that was in August! Now granted, the water in August in Maine and the water in the lake in May are probably closer in temperature than you might think, but just one season later and her trepidation has turned into fascination.

I’m reminded how quickly things can change, and how significant small things can become. It’s never too late to make changes in your life. Never too late to change your opinion, go back to school, launch a business, start a garden, make new friends. Alice is going to be going through so much and changing so quickly the things that seem like the most important things now might not even be blips on the radar next week. Heck, maybe not even tomorrow…

Ever since I launched my business with Beautycounter, I’ve been pushing myself to try new things, meet new people, go new places and rethink what I thought I knew. I’ve expanded what I know about the laws surrounding the beauty industry, what I know about product safety and what I know about sales. Growing my toddler with my business is an amazing symbiosis. The best is yet to come for both of us. Things will certainly change, there will be setbacks, but by continuing to strive for progress not perfection, we’re both going to continue to grow and change. It’s an amazing journey.

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