For over a year now, I've been taking Tonka with me to the 7am service on Saturday mornings. In that time, she's progressed from diapers to pull-ups to underwear.
I've gone from changing her on the table in the men's bathroom, to helping her in the stall, to standing by the sink as she went into the stall alone.
A few weeks ago, she went into the women's bathroom and had another woman serve as her assistant.
Today, for the first time, she went into the women's bathroom on her own as I waited in the hallway.
Sometimes, milestones in life pass you by without realizing them. And sometimes you realize them at a bizarre moment.
If my goal as a parent is to raise an independent woman, then, at least as far as this one little (or not so little as it may be) life skill is concerned, it seems like we are on our way.
I felt strangely alone in the hall.
At one point, I pushed the door open a bit (there were no other women there that early and just called "Tonka, are you ok?)
In the mirror, I saw her at the sink, washing her hands.
"I'm ok!" she yelled.
And so, she was (and is).
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