Nor does she cease to entertain and amuse me. In an effort
to appease Maebrynn while Daddy was gone last Saturday evening, I pulled out
her My Little Pony matching game for the first time. She caught on very quickly
and is surprisingly good. I had already braced myself to go easy on her a bit,
but I really needed her to go easy on me! Matching game was a hit, and we have
played it almost every day since that night. She wanted to play Monday night as
I was cleaning up the kitchen from our supper mess, so I told her to set it up
while she waited for me to finish. I turned to observe her set-up technique and
saw her lying in the floor on her tummy in the squares of sunlight coming
through our front door window. She had discovered that her hands made shadow
puppets in the squares of light, and she made different shapes move for nearly
10 minutes. And I watched her for that long. Through the constant rush and
hustle of our days, and in Maebrynn’s increasing wittiness and intellect, this
simple moment brought tears to my eyes. I love these little reminders that my
little girl is not growing as quickly as it sometimes seems and that she does
have an appreciation for simple moments as well. I wish I could bottle that innocence
and delight and keep it within her forever.
We did play the matching game. I finally beat her, fair and
square. Rather than get upset at losing, she threw her arms around my neck and
said, “I am so proud of you, Mama,
for finally beating me!” I said a prayer then and there that she may always
keep this positive attitude and continue discovering simple joys in every day.
