I am proud to announce my association with a wonderful new blogging project called 5 Minutes for Parenting. It is sponsored by one of the most well-known mom blogs out there, 5 Minutes for Mom. Stephanie Precourt of Adventures in Babywearing fame is the editor.

I am especially humbled to be in the company of the featured bloggers (see them here). Some of your favorites and mine are contributing their work. My offerings will be featured on one Sunday a month. July 20th is my big debut.

Thanks for popping over to check it out and say hi. Veronica Mitchell of Toddled Dredge has the first official post up today.

My firstborn is eleven today.

Aidan is at the age where she wants to carry a purse to the mall, but inside is a soft stuffed bunny finger puppet along with her money and some Chapstick.

I hope she carries the bunny for a few more years. I know that won’t happen. One day she’ll take it out of her purse with a slight eye-roll and nudge it under her bed.

She is caught between the dazzling allure of the teen ages and the security of childhood. I see it every day as she delights one moment in playing with her little horses but in the next she’s slamming her bedroom door in a fit of emotions that are still too big for her to wrangle.

I am sentimental about the past and slightly fearful about the coming years with our first teenager. I’m caught, too.

Here at eleven, my daughter and I are aligned in an orbit. I’m bigger, but she’s moving faster and faster. Soon, I’ll watch her launch ahead and away, never taking my eyes off her path.