Falling Back

Chores caught up with me and held me hostage all day yesterday, leaving me exhausted and incapable of reflecting on our little weekend of wonder. In spite of the threat of rain, Saturday, we drove about a hundred miles south to Monterey Bay to take Mandarin to the Monterey Bay Aquarium - to make memories. There will always be room for memories in this house. 

It really got me thinking; the huge responsibility we have as parents to give our children the gift of experiences and good memories before they venture out into the world on their own. And if you as a parent haven’t realized it yet, planning ahead is key, and a change of lifestyle definitely factors in. Children pay attention to every. single. thing. Yes. They’re watching you - not Children of the Corn watching you - but learning from you by example. These lessons and the bank of memories they carry with them will shape them to be the kind, responsible, brave, smart and happy adults we all hope them to be. 

Every second, the frame of a memory is created. We memorialize the occasion by remembrance, much like the very act of framing a photograph; the physical manifestation of memories.  It is terribly easy to take specific things for granted. I talk about gratitude and savoring the small things a lot because there are many days when I struggle to be thankful and complain about the silliest things. Today, it's my horrible pillow that keeps giving me stiff necks. It gets flat as a pancake. I should toss it. But then, gratitude...thank you for five hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Ok. So I'm still really learning how to use my camera in low light and as you can see in one of those photos, Mandarin is terribly whitewashed with the flash, though I liked the idea that I did get their reflection from the glass.
Much more lessons to be learned.  

Thank God for photos because, let’s be honest though: she will not remember. Not the fries and halibut she tried for the first time for lunch at Phils Fish Market or the glowing jelly fish that floated in a ballet spectacle right in front of her in a dark room of awed guests, or that while making our way through the crowd surrounding the display of Puffins, Mandarin turned around uninterested by bathing birds because she was more interested in watching the chorus of people watching the puffins. Too young to remember for sure, at least not this deep into her childhood and I cannot begin discuss how incredibly fortunate I feel to be be there. To be HERE. To be present during possibly the most significant and important years of her life. The part where she learns about love - and pretty much everything else that will build character in her later years. 

You know you want a bite. 

I am not a parenting expert, but I am a parent and I've come to realize that at the heart of my daughter's understanding and discernment is her sensitivity to feeling.  Children, I would assume are all similarly the same. They can feel if they are very much loved or neglected, sad, happy - all of which precedes language before they even fully understand what those emotions mean. 

I want her to always feel loved, appreciated and happy - all while she's still oblivious to the wiles of the world. I want to prolong her innocence for as long as I can because that is one magical thing that once lost, they may never get back.

Let's see. Who seems more excited for the splash of water?

So. Monterey Bay. This coastal town delivered wonders for our weekend. Glowing wonders. Mandarin touched a starfish for the first time, the cold water iced her fingers and the feel of the starfish, I could imagine it must have seemed so exotic. She had an unexpected close encounter with a Bat Ray that startled and fortunately, didn't scare her. And those moon jellies, simply put, were stunning and hypnotic in the blue glow that surrounded them. 

It almost felt heavenly. 

 Every second has to count. How to make it count; therein lies the challenge of parenthood. It is both difficult and similarly exciting. Especially with the holidays coming up, there are more occasions to celebrate, more memories to create. Memories that aren't just for her, they're ours too.

While on the subject of taking the time and making time to celebrate, it's - well - timely that we gained back an hour over the weekend too. A full hour to read a book do laundry do watch Oddities or learn how to put together a Beauchene skull. ..... I'll have to figure this one out in the next few days. 

These days the sun dips into the horizon by 5:30pm and the day settles into its jammies much earlier and so, snuggles are definitely in order. Books before bedtime, too (I've started reading her Christmas stories to acquaint her with Santa Clause, christmas trees, elves and all the trims of the holiday season).

And yes we've started brushing our tooofees (her teeth came out pretty late).  

She may not remember all the details. So we'll be here to remind her.  Tell her stories of how she cooed out for the birds, and called out to the fish and how when she saw the Kelp forest and all the fishes for the first time the shape of her dainty mouth was a perfect "O" for a most wondrous and perfectly uttered WOW. 

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