Blessings

One of the best parts of being a mommy is the opportunity to to bear witness, in such an intimate and special way, to the development of a precious life from a totally helpless baby into a increasingly more independent person.  Of course, part of me wishes she would stay my little girl completely dependent on me forever and I love how much she needs me.  But my greater joy is in seeing her grow and begin to make little decisions for herself.  Decisions like how she is going to get down the stairs today (slide on bum or on tummy or holding daddy's hand) or which teddy bear gets the honor of morning cuddles or if she wants to play tea party or play the piano.  Watching her mind learn and grow and seeing her become such a kind, patient (most of the time), playful and loving little girl has been one of the greatest gifts of my life.  There have been so many firsts that we've been blessed to be a part of from her first smile to her first steps and from her first bath to her first tooth.  They have all been critical milestones in all of our lives and we try to commemorate them in some way which is why I was motivated to get back onto keeping up this blog.  My hope is that one day Maya (and our other kids) will be able to look back at this as a little journal of our life and be reminded of how much she is loved.

On that note, we have had a few more firsts in our house this week that deserve some mention.  As I've noted many times before, Maya loves the water.  She loves baths and pools and the lake and has always been intrigued by the bathroom shower.  I was in a bit of a rush one morning and since we both needed to get clean, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and bring Maya into the shower with me.  Maya's eyes got very wide as we stepped into the shower and the water ran down over her face seeming to spray from every direction but it only took a few seconds and she was laughing and smiling and saying "like it, like it" over and over again.  She played and played and tried to imitate me as I washed my hair trying to use the pump on the shampoo to get some for herself as she rubbed it in her hair.  It was so much fun to watch her experience something new yet again.  And I think that her new decision for herself will now be.....bath or shower?  She does love both so we'll see.

The other first this week just happened tonight and I smile to myself and get teary at the same time as I think of it again.  It will go down in my memory as one of the best nights of my life.  Maya is a little chatterbox.  Always talking and repeating everything that you say.  We always tell her that we love her and often ask her to say "love you" when we are saying goodbye or goodnight but weren't sure if she yet understood what it meant.  Well, tonight we were sitting together playing and I said to Maya "can mommy have a big squeeze" and she leaned over and wrapped her little arms around my neck and gave me a big hug.  Then she looked right into my eyes and said "love you" in the clearest way and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard.  It was the first time that we didn't ask her to say it.  It was her own decision and something in her made the connection that the affection and trust she felt for her mommy was indeed love.  What a miracle and a blessing to have been able to experience that gift!