Nine: She's Basically a Teenager Already

Sophie turned nine today and instead of Chuck E. Cheese or a backyard party with Princess Everything, she asked for sushi. SUSHI. At a restaurant with cloth napkins and everything. I don’t know when my baby who used to eat chicken nuggets exclusively became this sophisticated little person who knows the difference between salmon and tuna rolls.

Nine: She’s Basically a Teenager Already

We took her to Kurama and she studied that menu like she was preparing for finals. Asked the server about the freshness of the fish. Used chopsticks like she’s been doing it her whole life instead of learning last month when Marcus brought home takeout. I sat there watching her navigate edamame with the confidence of someone who definitely hasn’t spent the last nine years thinking vegetables were basically poison.

Teaching her the finer points of chopstick technique

The whole dinner I kept looking at her and thinking ‘when did this happen?’ When did my tiny human who used to need help reaching the light switch become this person with opinions about wasabi and preferences for California rolls over spicy tuna? She’s still missing two teeth and has to sit on a booster seat, but somehow she’s also old enough to request a ‘grown-up dinner’ for her birthday.

Marcus keeps saying I’m being dramatic, that she’s still our little girl. But when she politely asked the server if they had any dessert recommendations and said ‘thank you so much’ without being prompted, I realized he’s wrong. She’s not our little girl anymore. She’s becoming herself, and that person apparently has excellent taste in sushi restaurants.