As E. marches way too quickly toward her 4th birthday, it seems everything is reminding me that not only is she not a baby anymore but her toddler days are numbered, too. Why must it all go so fast? She’s practically counting the days until her birthday, and every time she mentions that it’s almost here, my heart hurts a little bit. Make time slow down. PLEASE!

Despite my best efforts to make her my baby forever, she’s racking up the milestones around here. Today saw two big firsts.

The day started with E’s very first piano lesson! She’s been sitting at her keyboard almost every day since Christmas. Even when she has friends over, it’s one of the first places she takes them.

I think DadJovi has been looking forward to this day more than anyone. I’m pretty sure that the only reason E. got a piano already is because he wants to learn to play himself. So he insisted when we were looking for teachers that we find one available on Saturdays so he could take her.

The best-laid plans …

When they arrived, he said the piano teacher was straight out of central casting — with cats and all! She wouldn’t open the door more than a few inches at first, so as he was saying hello and introducing themselves, E. pushed her way through the door and ran on in. Oops!

Oh, I left out a crucial piece of the story. The teacher normally doesn’t start taking students until they’re 5. During his first conversation with her, DadJovi may have implied that E. was nearly 5. See what I’m saying here people? He’s obsessed with starting these lessons. I was not going to make our daughter lie about her age (she can just wait like the rest of us and start doing that at 29), so I did set the record straight when I called to schedule our first lesson. When she heard that E. was only 3 (“But she’s ALMOST 4” I promised her … and you know how much it pained me to admit that to her), she was really hesitant to take her on as a student.

But we came to an agreement that we’d try it for one month, and if at the end of that month she doesn’t think E is ready, we’ll stop. Seems reasonable, right? But that meant there was A LOT riding on today.

As DadJovi started to follow E. into the teacher’s house, she stopped him and told him he could wait in the car. Sorry lady, but you’re not getting to take our 3-year-old into your home alone. No offense. When he balked, she told him that he could watch through the window on the front porch.

And just like that, his dreams of learning to play side-by-side with E were dashed. But I’m sure he’ll pick up a lot of the pointers from the porch.

He said E. seemed to have a great time, though. Despite our worries about the teacher being a bit cranky, he said she was wonderful. Within moments, the two of them were laughing and he said it was clear she’s spent years teaching children. Afterwards, she told him E. did great, so, for now, E. is officially taking piano lessons!

When they got back, we did a massive toy clean out. Four bags of crap got purged! Two of the bags ended up in the garbage, one bag is going to E’s school and the fourth bag already went to Goodwill.

While DadJovi was dropping off our donation, DadJovi did a bit of shopping and ended up getting E. an early birthday present — a new bike!

She’s so excited to finally have a big girl bike. Know what makes her mommy even more excited? The bike was only $15! How great is Goodwill? Plus, it’s a Schwinn, so that just means it’s an awesome bike.

We looked at a lot of bikes before Christmas and she was too big for the smaller ones and too small for the bigger ones. This one is probably a bit too big, but we figure it’s a great learning bike and should last her about a year.

When she’s better at riding a two-wheeler, we’ll think about getting a less loved bike. The handlebars on this one are pretty banged up but it’s nothing a new pair of grips and, of course, handlebar streamers won’t fix!

Much quicker than we thought she’d be, she was zooming down the sidewalk.

The biggest problem she has so far is that she keeps braking with her feet. Her tricycle didn’t have that feature and she can’t stop testing it out. She also needs a boost from one of us to get on the bike, but otherwise, she’s having a blast with her new bike.

Meanwhile, I’ll be quietly sobbing in the corner because I KNOW that it was just yesterday that she was just learning to crawl. Riding a bike with training wheels just doesn’t seem possible to me.

Do you remember your first two-wheeler? I remember mine. It was white with streamers and a white and red wicker basket. And I adored it — well, at least until I flipped it racing my cousins down my grandmother’s fields.