What she loves

   




      As Mya continues to grow and develop into the little girl that she is becoming, it's amazing to see how her personality, sense of self and opinions are also steadily growing along with her. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was holding this tiny little being, only 6.7lbs, smelling that sweet newborn smell, carrying her cuddled up to my body in our sling, listening to her little heartbeat against my chest. Everyone always says to enjoy your children and to not take a minute of it for granted since time flies. But sometimes it's easy to forget to do this with the whirlwind of life that pushes us quickly along and the challenges of parenthood that are inevitably snuck into each and every day. It's definitely my goal though, and my priority.

      I don't want to forget a thing. I don't want to let life pass us by without purposely enjoying and appreciating all of the little moments of happiness and joy that Mya brings to us. I want to be able to look back on her childhood, close my eyes and actually remember what it was like. That's really one of the main reasons why I decided to keep a blog and to consequently document many of the moments in her childhood and in our lives. I write for Mya, for our future children and for Terry and I...so we don't forget. And although the reality of writing in a public forum comes with the additional consequences of opening yourself up to being vulnerable and having your words possibly misconstrued or judged..it's worth it for me since our kids will have something to look back on one day. It's my way of holding on to a little piece of their childhood and being able to bottle it up so that one day I can look back and re-live the moments...both the good and the challenging.

    In saying this, one of the things that I want to be able to remember about this exact stage in her life are all of the little things that she currently loves. She is starting to let us know what she likes (and certainly what she doesn't like) and I don't want to forget some of her most favourite things at this very moment. It changes almost weekly as she continues to explore and discover new and exciting things that our world has to offer. But as of now, these are a handful of the things that she loves.

 1) Water:
         A bucket of water, a few toys and some soap to create bubbles is all that she needs and she's absolutely thrilled.

Water coming out of a tap that she can control by turning it on and off herself is even better.

   And her baby doll is frequenting the dog bowl on a daily basis for a bath as well--only to be taken out, dried off with a tea towel ever-so-gently, then put back in the dog bowl for some more bath time. It's the cutest thing ever to watch.

2) Oliver : enough said. She's obsessed with him. Love isn't even a strong enough word..she adores him.



3) Big cardboard boxes. What kid doesn't love a good ol' cardboard box to play in? Jen and Jeff's wagon box turned into the best playground ever...and she made each and every one of us get in that box with her...

...even her very pregnant mama. I wish we had video of me getting out of that box...it was quite entertaining. Terry had to literally pull me out.

4) Her new playset:

My dad and Terry built this playset for her and her brother-to-be just a few weeks ago...and she LOVES it. After weeks and weeks of searching on Kijiji for swings, slides and other fun things to add onto it, we finally found what we wanted for a great price, bought some wood and the boys started building. Thanks dad and Terry!

Dad and Terry thought of everything...even adding little benches under the playset for the kiddos to sit on and hide out under.

5) Crossing her legs. It's her new thing. She finds a spot to hold onto and slowly crosses them until she's steady, then waits for everyone to laugh. It gets us every single time. She looks like a mini adult.

6) Watching for air planes in the sky. No matter where we are, if she notices an air plane in the sky she'll stop and watch it without taking her eyes off of it for even a minute...I'm sure she's probably wondering how and why that thing is so high and flying above her, but either way it's pretty cute.

So there you have it...a few of her favourite things. I'm sure by next month I'll have a whole new list...but that's the beauty of one's childhood--it changes so quickly, which also means that there are greater, more exciting things to come just around the corner.