My Little Girl's Growing Up

Today was the end of an era.

Way back in 2005, we bought Erin a dollhouse for her vast Barbie collection. It wasn't an "official" Barbie house, but rather one made of wood (instead of plastic) with wood and cushioned furniture. It had three floors plus an attic, and it matched her purple and pink room perfectly. It was a dream house for a little girl like Erin, and she and her friends spent countless hours playing with it.

When we moved to California at the end of 2008, I asked Erin if she wanted to bring the dollhouse with us. She refused to be parted with it, so on the moving truck it went, and we set it up in her new room. She still played with it, mostly when her friends came over, so all was good. When we gave away some of her toys last year, I again asked her if she was ready to part with it. Nope. So it stayed. It also stayed through our redecorating of Erin's room earlier this year, and although she's talked about changing her room some when she starts middle school next year, she made no mention of removing the dollhouse.

This morning, when we got to school, a friend of mine asked me if we might want a chair that she'd recently taken out of her own daughter's room (Taylor is in high school and needed something more conducive to studying). It was in her car, so we went and looked at it. I had seen it yesterday in their garage, and I knew Erin would go crazy for it, so I wasn't surprised when upon seeing it, she gave a yelp of divine happiness and asked if she could have it. I asked her where she was going to put it, and she said she'd take the dollhouse out and put the chair there. Wow... For all the times I'd asked her if she wanted to give away the dollhouse, I was caught off guard when she actually said she was ready.

This afternoon, Erin and I went up to her room to empty the dollhouse and move it into the guest room. (No, we're not going to keep it there for guests to play with; it's a temporary spot until it goes to its new home, where it'll be enjoyed by Erin's teacher's three daughters.) It was kind of sad, and Erin was somewhat quiet while we were doing it. But once it was moved out, and the new chair was moved in, she was beyond happy, and she said that she loved how grown-up her room looks now. In fact, she's been up in her room for a while now, no doubt curled up in her new chair.

Yep, my little girl's growing up.  <Sniff... sniff...>