My many artifacts, the list goes on...

I spend a lot of time with children under the age of 5.

In fact, one of my favorite people to spend time with is a soon to be three year old girl, named Lexa, who is in the process of potty training.

Last Saturday evening, I had the pleasure of staying with Lexa and her big sister while their parents had a much needed night out.

When it was time to get ready for bed, as we played a bit in her room, I called Lexa baby.

She climbed on her bed, put her hands on her hips and indignantly informed me "I am a big girl!"

It struck me that up until a certain point in life, all girls want to be told that they are a big girl. Until being a big girl is no longer a positive thing to be.

I remember being at the pediatrician for an annual checkup at the same time as my brother. We had both gained weight over the past year. However, he was called stocky and the doctor assured my mother he would grow out of it.

I was lectured for eating too many potato chips. I still remember how confused I was, because I didn't even eat potato chips. But I was branded as a "big girl"

I often joke about the day I learned I was fat

Surprisingly, it was not that day in the doctor's office

It was while I was visiting my grandmother. Visiting Grandma was always fun, as it meant I got to see all of my cousins. We lived in Pennsylvania, Grandma and the cousins lived in California.

On this trip, I was in Grandma's kitchen, pouring myself a New York Seltzer. My oldest cousin came in the room and told me that I shouldn't be drinking anything but water, because I needed to lose weight.

I was 8 years old.

After that moment, I lost count of how many times I was told that I needed to diet, because I was such a big girl. After that moment, at age 8, I wanted nothing more than to not be a big girl anymore.

I remember training myself to make different food choices.

I learned that drinking skim milk could cause you to lose 5 pounds in a year.

Whole milk has not crossed my lips since that day.

I started using margarine instead of butter, as I was told it was better for weight loss

I put myself on a starvation diet by age 13, skipping breakfast and only eating an apple for lunch.

I stopping eating lunch completely by age 16

I only started eating breakfast again once I was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 26

Perhaps I would not have been such a big girl for so long if I had not given myself a eating disorder

Funny that not wanting to be a big girl turned me into an even bigger girl

And it broke my heart a little, how proud Lexa was to tell me she was a big girl

Whenever a little girl proudly exclaims that she's a big girl, I fervently hope that they never dread hearing that they're a big girl

Even though society is desperately trying to remove the stigma of being a big girl

The news that Kmart has re-branded its plus size clothing section "fabulously sized" did not make me happy

I would have been thrilled to hear that they had decided to stop segregating by size.

Growing up, I just wanted to shop in the same section that my skinny sisters and friends did.

Being obese, I just wanted to be able to find clothes in the store that I liked and not have to shop at stores such as Lane Bryant

I just wanted to fit in

Having to shop in the fabulously sized department would not thrill me

Can't all clothing sizes just be grouped together? Can't a skinny woman and a fat woman shop side by side? It is 2017, after all.

After all, at one point in our lives, no matter what, all women just want to be a big girl

Until the thrill is taken away from us. Until being a big girl is no longer a positive thing, but a shame ridden state of existence

I just want to recapture that pride I see in the little girls who are so happy to be told that they are a big girl

That confidence they have in knowing that they are changing. The confidence that they can be anything they want, that they can be a doctor and a dinosaur herder, as well as a mommy

That magical time of life before they are told they can't do what they want. That their changing bodies are a bad thing. That being a big girl is bad

Because being a big girl, whether you wear a size 2 or size 22, it is not an easy journey. We don't need to make it harder than it already can be

And because being a big girl isn't a bad thing, even if you have to shop in the fabulously sized department