4 going on 94

I hear it all of the time.  “She’s 7 going on 17.” I cringe every time I hear that statement about a little girl since it is usually a parent’s way of saying that the child is too sassy for her age.

Snuggling-in to get warm this morning.

My kid, on the other hand, is four going on 94!  And I’m not sure I should brag about that.  She’s the kind of kid people often refer to as “an old soul.”  Case in point, this morning, after she guzzled her chocolate milk at breakfast time, she said, “I’m cold.”  But it didn’t end there.  A sweater was not within reach (She always requests a sweater if she’s cold!) so she snuggled into me until she warmed herself up.

But that’s not all!  There were several old soul/old lady things she did when we went to Hersheypark with our friends Sarah and Molly on Sunday afternoon:

• Isabelle and Molly walked into the park holding hands.  Sarah and I pushed their strollers (which you HAVE to bring to Hersheypark since it’s hilly and kids get tired from all of the walking). We noticed them lagging behind. I turned around and noticed Isabelle and Molly chatting it up with a throng of people trudging along behind them.  (How kind it was for no one to try to pass them!) There were about 20-30 people being held up by two four-year-olds who were just looking around, chatting, and enjoying the scenery.  The girls didn’t have a care in the world about who they were holding up.  And while I could say Molly was equally responsible for walking slowly, I know she was being a good friend and keeping up with Old Lady Isabelle who prefers a slower pace so she can take in the world.
• Isabelle and Molly, both four, insisted on holding hands most of the time they walked around the park this weekend.  It’s a cute little girl thing to do. But it reminds me of my grandmother, who Isabelle is named after, since she always liked to hold my hand or my arm in her later years when we walked together.
• Isabelle doesn’t pay attention while she drives.  I took her on the Classic Cars at Hersheypark and her eyes were everywhere except for on the road on which she was driving. Thankfully, there’s a track to keep drivers like her from going astray.  Google “‘century village’ ‘pool’ ‘car'” and you’ll understand why this relates to older folks.
• Isabelle loves rides that spin around (not so old ladyish), but she detests roller coasters (because she’s an old soul).

• 

  Miss Kiss got lots of hugs at the Park this weekend.

  Long, lingering hugs.  Those are the kinds of hugs my daughter likes to give.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a character at Herhseypark or a friend, Isabelle will give you lots of hugs — repeatedly.  It’s hard for her to stop hugging, especially when it’s time to go.  Kind of like the way my grandmother never wanted to let us go when it was time for us to depart after visiting her.

I wrote the conclusion of this piece before I wrote the bullet points above.  The ending was supposed to be: “I’m okay with Isabelle being an ‘old soul.’ It might not be desirable, but it’s better than her acting like a teenager at the age of four.”  But then I stepped away from this piece of writing for a few hours and thought about it.  That’s when I realized Isabelle doesn’t necessarily have stereotypical “old lady” traits.  She happens to do things that remind me of my grandmother, who lived until 92.5 years-old, in her final years.  While Isabelle might be an old soul, writing this made me realize that perhaps she has these old soul traits as a way of helping me feel as though my grandmother is here with me every day.  That notion is kind of a long-shot, but that’s what I’m concluding with today.