little tree-sized victories

The other day, S and I played outside while Pato napped. It was chilly and I found myself asking S at least three times if she was ready to go back inside, but she didn't seem to mind that our fingers were freezing. I thought maybe I'd make some hot chocolate, then realized we were out. Then I mentally weighed the dangers of leaving my sleeping son alone for a seven minute run to the nearest drive-thru for some. Don't worry. I'm not that crazy and I didn't leave him alone. But, come on, hasn't every parent kinda ever had that "what if I ran out for just a minute?" thought? 

So, we wandered to our neighbors yard and she tried to break into their storage shed. I kept an eye on the road because I was sure a cop would drive by and accuse me and my two year old of trespassing...or maybe I just had "crazy mom who abandons kids for hot beverages" written all over my face. I know... sounds absurd. I was too scared to be a trouble maker in school, can you tell? 

But, onto the small victory part...

We had initially gone out because I wanted to take a picture of this tree in our backyard. S decided she wanted to climb it, and up she went. This was a small tree, so really, she was probably just a foot off the ground. But, it may as well have been ten feet because I was so proud of her for doing something that was sort of scary. (Not that I really want her climbing up tall trees, let me make that clear.) Once she made it up she kept saying, "I did it! I did it!" And I was so excited for her!

One of the best things about being a mom is seeing my kids succeed at something or learn something new. I tell ya... when S overcame her fear of stamps (the kind you get stamped on your hand) after crying every week at the end of music class, I was SO proud of her. I have no idea why getting her hand stamped scared her so much, but now she looks forward to it and loves showing her stamp off. And, when J started singing "ba ba ba" in time with the music teacher (something S still won't do) in our most recent class, even Mozart couldn't have impressed me more.

I love the small victories.