The swing is from Walmart and is well worn with a tattered green canopy and faded upholstery, but it's heaven to me and the girl who is the love of my life. For who knows how many brief moments, we lay there, her gangly knees pulled up close to my body and her spindly little arm thrown casually over my shoulder and we sway back and forth to the rhythm of the creaky swing.

Spring is here and with it comes the promise of 6 months of warm weather where we will gradually lose the need to wear sweaters and coats as the temperature rises and we box our warm clothing for tank tops and flip flops. When my daughter was still in diapers, the nerdy cloth diaper-obsessed mom in me would get excited that the weather was finally warm enough to show off her fluffy bum.

My three year old does chores. She does. She's been doing them since she was about 2 ½ , actually. It all started when a friend of mine came over to watch her for me and I got home to find out that my little Bunny had picked up all of her toys by herself thanks to my friend's kind but firm instruction. It was a “duh” moment for me. Of course she was capable of picking up her toys but being her Mommy since she was incapable of doing anything, somehow her development had brought her to a place of being capable of new responsibilities without my realizing it.