Thursday, February 25, 2010

My beautiful, amazing daughter

Being a mother is both the greatest joy and largest stress of my life. I'm sure all you parents out there totally understand. It's way beyond what I ever imagined. It's a gift of amazing proportions, one I thank God for though not often enough. Today especially I am reveling in her capacity for learning and creativity. This morning, one of my hair clips rolled under my king sized bed just out of my reach. I asked Calissa if she could reach it. At first she said no, then told me she would try. She scoped out the situation very seriously and then ran around to the other side of the bed. I assumed, probably because this is how I would do it, that she would crawl under head first and grab the clip. Nope, not her. She rolled over on her belly, stuck her feet under the bed and scooted back until she could scoop the clip up on the cup of her feet and the scooted back out, clip in hand so to speak. One of the things I've been teaching her recently is to clear her place after meals. Usually she just dumps her dishes in the sink or puts them on the counter. After breakfast today, she picks up her bowl and spoon, opens the dishwasher, and puts her spoon and bowl pretty much where they belong. She then comes over to me, asks me if I'm done with my bowl and when I say yes, puts them in the dishwasher as well. I'm sure that in time, I'll have to yell and scream and threaten awful things to get her to pick up after herself. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy my little helper.