Pressed for Time

Last week, a mere two weeks after my daughter's fourth birthday, she asked me over breakfast, "Am I still four?"

"Yes, of course," I said.

Heavy sigh. "Getting to five takes a really, really long time!"

"Yes, it's going to take a very long time, sweetie," I replied.

She looked a bit deflated and said, "Just like when I was three-and-a-half -- it took a really, really long time to get to four!

* * * * *

This flower is the result of a (relatively) short three-week wait. She received a flower press for her birthday. The following day we picked some weeds from a nearby field and a few butterbells from the lawn and locked them away in the press. Yesterday we finally had the big reveal. I managed to put this one aside, saving it from the fate of the others -- being glued down to any available flat surface.

At four, I'm not sure how well she can conceptualize long stretches of time. She seemed to do OK with waiting the three weeks to open the flower press -- but she's already planning her next birthday as if it were next week. I wish she wasn't in such a hurry to grow up.