<a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/3310222646_9b51d4cc6b.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-463" title="3310222646_9b51d4cc6b" src="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/3310222646_9b51d4cc6b.jpg" alt="" width="538" height="357" /></a>
<h5 style="padding-left: 450px;">Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/fimbrethil/">Fimb</a></h5>
My kids are at a great stage. Well, there's the sisterly bickering, which I could do without, but I love the rest. <strong>At 9 and 11, they're self-sufficient in all the right ways, without being <em>too</em> self-sufficient.</strong>

For instance, they shower and dress themselves (sure, S requires a bit of nagging), but they still love sitting on my lap. They can comb their own hair after washing it, but they still love to have me comb the affection on them. They are just fine walking the dog all by themselves, yet they still hold my hand when I'm walking with them. They can stay home alone while I run a quick errand, but they still love it best when we're all around the table together.

<strong>It was a bit of a shock, then, when my 11-year-old <a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/?p=443">broke her arm</a>.</strong> Suddenly, I had to start bathing her (every other day, at her pre-teen insistence). And dressing her (she is very picky about clothes). And changing her earrings and putting up her hair (in her very particular way). Oh, and helping her pack her backpack, open bags of pretzels, cut her meat, butter her toast, and do a variety of other tasks that she's done on her own for years.

When school started a week ago (middle school!), Q's dependency really sunk in. Not only did I have to do all of these things for her, I had to do them on a schedule! For the very child who is our most self-sufficient—the one we never have to remind about anything, let alone nag!

Even though Q herself hasn't grumbled once about the inconveniences of having a cast up to her armpit, I admit, I was grumbling a bit inside.

<strong>Tonight, though, as I gave Q her bath—this big girl, my firstborn, who is growing up so fast and has long been "too old" for baths—I reveled in it.</strong> I poured the warm water over her back; she marveled at how good it felt. I massaged her scalp with shampoo; she said it was like being at a fine spa. I rinsed out the suds, all of my techniques for keeping water out of ears and eyes coming back to me. Then I dried Q off, wrapped her up, and hugged her, remembering that wonderful feeling of holding a warm, clean baby, all swaddled in fluffy towel.

<strong>And all I could think was how glad I am that I slowed down enough to appreciate this unexpected gift. The cast will come off in about a month, but Q and I have bonded in that deep, "I need you" way, once again.</strong>