cherished moments of a mother

Happy Mother's Day!

This has been a treasured day. As it comes to a close, I'm reflecting on some of my favourite moments of this past day as a mother of a chatty, curious, sweet and sassy 21 month old.

There's the nature walk in the forest where we watched stunning orange orioles building their nests. We thought we'd have a child of nature who would love her time in the natural world so much that she would quietly soak it in while riding peacefully in the backpack carrier. Our dream was starkly contrasted by Maia's little-bodied-big-voice YELLING her thoughts into the forest. In spite of our subtle and less subtle attempts (from whispering to shushing to asking "Can you hear the birds singing?"), Maia continued to yell "PUPPIA!" (her latest version of puppy) along most of the trail. I wonder why we didn't see any deer today....

There's also the moment when we were trying to keep Maia from going down an unsafe set of stairs at the side of our house. I must have said to her, "No, Maia. There's nothing down there for you." Well, she's picked up on the idea that there is "nothing" at the bottom of the stairs... and keeps asking to see it. "Nuffing." What, Maia? "Nuffing!" Oh, nothing. There's nothing there. "NUFFING. Pease!" A day has passed and she hasn't stopped asking about "nothing". She must think we're totally holding out on her because we won't show her the nothing at the bottom of the stairs. Cruel parents.

Then there's the conversation where I said "That's cool." in response to something Tim said. Tim followed with "I wonder how long it will be before Maia will pick up on that word and say...". And just as he finished the last word of his sentence, Maia chimed in: "Cool."


My mother's day gift (besides the lovely breakfast Tim prepared that I sat down to eat just as my ride for rehearsal arrived at the door -- hmph) was a trip to the local greenhouse to buy some flowers for my hanging baskets. After planting outside this afternoon, I showed Maia a flower bud in a hanging basket by the door and explained that it will have a flower soon and that we'll come back to see it. She only had one thing to say: "Open!"

Maia's "Amy!" at prayer time has morphed into "Amen!" at last. But this hasn't left us without any mealtime antics. At dinner tonight, we held hands and prayed as usual. This time Maia didn't let go of our hands after "amen." Instead she looked up with a twinkle in her eye and said "Pay! Gann!" (Translation: "Pray! Again!") So this time, she led us in her own prayer, as prompted by daddy. "Jesus...thank you... amen!"

How do you put into words how much that warms a mother's heart?

Time for some of you other moms to comment on your favourite mother's day moments. Do tell!