My Sweet Girl

After attending a Memorial Day swim party, where T and I spent much of the day telling A, "no," "stop," "We don't hit, A," and putting her in timeout twice, I arrived home feeling guilty that maybe we are too hard on her. After all, she is only two. And, at home, much of what she was doing, I wouldn't have considered true misbehavior, but for some reason when there are other children and parents involved, you feel like if you don't do something, you aren't "parenting" appropriately. Of course, I couldn't let A clock her friend in the head and not do anything, or hit adult guests, eat off a chip and put it back in the bowl, but seriously, did I mention she's only two. For some reason, I think our expectations as adults of children often exceed reality.

Anyway, I just felt like I sometimes write a good deal about the challenges of parenting a toddler, and today, I wanted to write about how truly wonderful it is to be the mommy of a fantastic two-year-old. Every morning, I look forward to A's little feet running to the bedroom door (after her dad gets her out of the crib), opening it wide, and climbing into bed with Mommy for "snuggle bunny" time. She crawls in next to me, looks over and says, "Morning, mommy" and grabs my hand.

I love how when I am sitting in the floor with A putting together puzzles, reading, or coloring, she'll get up and walk around behind you, throw her arms around your neck, and then pat you on the back and say, "Hi, mommy." Sometimes she'll hug extra hard and say, "sqeeze," which means squeeze. When T and I are working in the yard, she always has to have sunglasses and gloves, just like mom and dad, and she always pushes her bubble mower right behind her daddy when he mows.

She also says the sweetest and funniest things. When I put on my bathing suit for the beach or the pool, after hearing her father one day call me "hot mama," she always looks at me and says "hot mommy." Hilarious and her attempt to both be like her daddy and be super sweet. She's also really into trying to share. She gives bites of her food away, always makes sure an unattended sippy cup immediately makes it back to its owner, and gives you the crayon that is the same color as the one she is using, so you both have blue, red, or the color of the day.

When I think about how wonderfully blessed I am that God allows me to be the mother of this little girl, I am simply overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. Sure there are spills, marks on things that aren't paper, like the walls for instance, and whiny, grumpy moments, and while I write about these too often and fail to reflect on the wonders of parenting, I can't express strongly enough how much I love being A's mother. And I know I'll feel the same way about our new baby. Parenting is tough, really tough, and you want so much to do it right, whatever right is. All I can do is trust God to guide T and me and spend more time enjoying and thinking about all the rewards that come along with giving it your true all.