Something exciting happened yesterday. Something that I have longed for since the birth of my second child 10 months ago. My daughter said "mama". Her first real word, and not just becuase she was making random noises. I asked her to say mama, and she did. She was so delighted by my response when she copied what I said that I got her to say it two more times before she became bored with the game. I know to some, okay probably to everyone, this would not be as exciting as it was to me, but let me give you a little backround as to why this meant so much to me.
My first child, was stubborn about what he would say when he first began to talk. It was surprising, to say the least, when his first word was "dada" considering his father was an over the road truck driver and was only home on the weekends. I was his world, he new me better. So, my motherly pride was hurt even more when his second work was "baba". We made it into a joke then, we laughed whenever we would ask him to say "mama" and he would only say one of the other two words.
So when my daughter said those two little sylables, I was surprised by the joy that I felt radiating through my body.
I have known for a long time that since I had children I have been more sensitive to the little things that make a person happy or sad. This was just another reminder of the joy that these children have brought into my life. With that sensitivity comes the more difficult emotions as well. There is a constant fear that I'm not doing it right. How do you know if the way you are raising your child is right? I mean, I try to teach my son right and wrong, we take him to church, and he even prays before dinner, but how can you tell that your children will turn out to be smart, well-adjusted individuals? I guess we just wait and see.
I guess that I'll just take a page out of my parents book, and try to raise my children the way that my parents raised me becuase, well, I turned out pretty awesome.
