10 Days of Thanks

Some friends of mine are posting about one thing they're thankful for--every single day in November! I knew I wouldn't last all thirty days, but I'll try for the ten days leading up to Thanksgiving. Here goes!

I worked in the office today, and when Matt picked Skylie up from the babysitter, ske kept asking, "Mama?! Mama?!" (I usually pick her up, but one of our cars is getting repaired.) Our babysitter told Matt that after Skylie had woken up from her afternoon nap, they watched cars driving through the parking lot and Sky kept saying, "Mama." "Mama.". It's obvious that Skylie adores her fun dad, but it did make me feel good knowing Sky cares about her mom, too.

As I was getting dinner ready tonight, Skylie had climbed up onto one of our counter height dining chairs in what seemed like an instant, with fork and knife in hand, and was digging into the food! So funny!

Later, she managed the Everest-like feat, again and then proceeded to attempt climbing into her seat on my bike. She apparently wanted to go for a ride, because she begged to sit in the bike seat and put on her helmet.

These occurrences seem like such an ordinary day in motherhood, but they matter so much to me. Just as I've been typing this, Skylie's been climbing on my lap to give me hugs and kisses. Being a mom is also hard, real hard. I'm discovering that I'm not as patient as I thought I once was and that reading the same books 50 million times every day does--in fact--get a little old after a while. But as challenging as motherhood is, there's nothing I'd rather do and nothing as rewarding, either.

So today I'm thankful for Skylie, for the opportunity Matt and I have to raise her, and for the honor I have to be called "a mom".

I'd better go now, she's tearing apart our fake tree.