Baby Girl was complaining recently about some pains in her joints, I couldn't tell you the name of the joints, maybe I should consult the hip bone's connected to the...song. The poor girl seemed legitimately hurting as she pointed to where her little legs met her little hips and I gave her a little hip-noogie to dull the ache.

My brother used to get growing pains in his legs, my baby brother who stands 6 feet tall. I told Baby Girl that she might be getting growing pains, and why would the girl who has grown two clothes sizes in one school year stop growing now? Cruel fate this rapid growth of my babies. You feel me?

I had forgotten, though, how exciting the term "growing pains" is for someone who plans her next birthday party 11 months in advance.

So a couple days later the girl says, "Mom, maybe we should check and see if my Croc shoes fit now. Because you know I had that leg pain?"

Oh. My. Head.

Oh my head, girlfriend. In your own head, you just leapt from possibly having growing pains to definitely having grown and now wanting to try on new clothes to boot. The next day you came out wearing that disco dancer skirt you got for Christmas which then was decidedly too big and now, you know what? It looked a tad more fitting. Of course, you probably thought. You had the leg pains, so...obviously, Mom. Time for the upgrade.

I'm sorry, Baby Girl. It is truly an awful joyful thing to have you growing up so strong and so swift. You might feel the pain in your joints occasionally, but your mom feels a judo kick to the heart on the regular.