The little red swing that started it all

I could remember installing this red swing in the doorway beam of my kitchen, when my daughter was about 14 months old. I would cook dinner, clean the kitchen, and we would blast Joan Jett and sing out loud, very loudly, while I pushed her back and forth. She would chime in with banging wooden spoons on the sides of the swing and I would whirl around pretending to play the air guitar. 

She would giggle at my silliness and I of course, would act even sillier. If I close my eyes, I could still see her short little hair cascading over her squinted eyes as I pushed her higher and higher. Her hair blowing back just enough to see the laughter and happiness in her eyes.

But today, those once little legs now almost graze the ground beneath her and she swings all by herself, while we talk about school and other fascinating life moments. I'll get a giggle out of her when I attempt to enter the pantry next to the swing, I'll swoop and dodge her feet like I'm playing a game of dodge ball.

Then, out of nowhere, she willingly climbs out of the swing to push her brother, higher and higher, just to get more laughter out of him. 

They play for a good half hour or so, her pushing him, then dodging underneath the swing and hiding. The laugh and talk, just the two of them. And I'm like the fly on the wall, going about my kitchen business. I'm no longer the center focus of the swing fun. I'm more like the chaperone, watching for safety reasons. 

However, I'll turn on some Joan Jett, for old times sake, and they'll wildly dance around to the music. But then, my daughter counters with her YouTube songs, which of course, she wins. Surprising me in the process, that she's old enough to have her own opinions on music.

My daughter asked me if we would still bring the swing in every winter when she's 10 years old... Of course we will, however by then, I'm thinking we'll have to attach a bigger swing and retire the red baby swing. And I will hope that at 10 years old, she'll still want to sit on a swing in my kitchen doorway and talk to me, or push her little 8 year old brother back and forth as we reminisce about a 14 month old little girl who started it all...

Because this doorway swing excursion must continue well past it's allotted time frame...