Today, September 24, 2012

Today’s project:  Mommy ‘pat on the back’

Ok.  I know that every parent thinks that their kids are the greatest on the planet.  At least, most of the time. ;) 

But once in a while, when they aren’t breaking things or leaving their socks all over the house or making a mess all over the family room floor, they do something really extraordinary; something that touches you to the core and almost makes you cry.

And that is when, in addition to being super proud of them and giving them a super-squeeze hug, I allow myself a little pat on the back.  Those are the moments I hope I can remind myself of when teenage hormones and rebellion urges make me want to research just how much it costs to run away to Paraguay.  

My baby girl Bella has done that twice in the past few days.  I know, she’s an overachiever!

The other day, I came out to the dining room after my girls left for school to find this waiting for me on the table:

I was so very touched that Bella thought of me on her busy morning to make me breakfast.  She didn’t want to wake me, I’m guessing, (even though I wasn’t actually asleep) so she didn’t bring it into my room. The tiara is the one that she wore during her birthday party.  She drew the card herself:

Yep.  Pretty awesome.

It gets better…

Last night, my husband heard a noise outside our bedroom door.  He peeked out to see, lying on the floor in the hall, this:

Bella told me this morning that she didn’t know what to do with the scraps left over from making Thank You notes for her party.  So she made this beautiful-ness.  Sigh. =)

It is a reference to this box that I made for my sweetie for Christmas:

Mine is filled with little nuggets like:

Bella’s list is similar, but I’m freely willing to admit that her 'reasons' are better. =)  I have 164 for my hubby’s box, Bella made 22 for me:

1. You make me good food.

2. You’re fun.

3. You keep me safe.

4. No matter what I do you love me.

5.  You’re always there.

6. You keep me going.

7. You make me feel better.

8. I wake you up in the middle of the might because I had a bad dream and you make me better no matter how annoyed you are.

9. You kiss an ouchie and make it feel better.

10. You watch Phineas and Ferb with me.

11. You’re awesome.

12. You notice the little things.

13. You’re just amazing.

14.  You make crafts.

15. No matter how bad my art is, you say you like it.

16.  No matter how crazy my ideas are, you listen.

17. You pay attention when I talk.

18. You hoist me up by the collar when I’m down.

19. You know whether I like it or not.

20. Your little things that you do.

21.You wind up my happy counter so much the spring might break.

22. Your heart is so huge you could fit the world in it.

And the final paper said:

‘I love you for way more reasons but the rest I can’t put on paper.’

I swear. I’m not making it up.  She wrote all of those on tiny little slips of scrap paper and folded up in a ‘card.’

So yes, I’m giving myself a little pat on the back that I must have done something right with this tiny human being.  Remembering those days when I doubt whether or not I’m being the best mom I can be, whether or not I’m giving them all that they need, whether or not I’ll be confronted with  an angry ‘You were a terrible mother because_____.’, whether or not I’ll be buying the therapist a summer home on Traverse Bay.  And then come these reminders and encouragements from the people we, as parents, are supposed to be reminding and encouraging.

And, yeah, I did cry…

Pic: favim.com