5 minutes? and great joys

Somehow Mia has caught onto the concept of time. Lily has had a case of "dilly-dallying" in the morning before school so her mom has implemented giving her a five minute warning before the time to leave. I think Mia's little ears and her receptive skills have picked up on Lil's five minute warnings from the mornings and my cautioning the girls on time when eating their dinners on piano lesson night and getting all clothing together on ice-skating day. As I was stirring the pasta I was making for dinner I opened the oven to check on the Brazilian cheese balls that were to accompany, and over bounced Mia. "Five minutes," she said with this face that said she was giving me advice and yet also questioning. So funny. In case you were wondering, they only needed two minutes more. Quite often now, if anything has a reference to time, I'm sure to hear, "five minutes?" echoing from a small little voice through someplace in the house.



Considering I woke up way before my alarm this morning (after having a dream that I was a buffalo!) and then spending my first hour of work cleaning up lots of puke, my day was off to an interesting start. I always love the surprises and great joys that come in such small and unsuspecting packages (my girls) but they seem to impact me even more when I have a day like today. 

As we walked out of the speech therapy room this afternoon Mia turned to me and said, "Good girl." I'm not quite sure when or why this has become a routine question of hers whenever we're leaving some kind of place where there has been a form of instruction (pre-school, gymnastics, speech therapy, etc.) but almost without fail it's there. I'm very conscientious  of the words I speak to the girls knowing more of the psychology of things and the behaviors and thought patterns words/phrases create in them, so I reply with either, "You're always a good girl Mia, but yes, you had good behavior," or "You're always a good girl Mia, but no, you didn't have good behavior. You didn't have good listening ears (or whatever the poor behavior was)."

Today as we were walking and she turned to me and said, "Good girl." I looked at her and told her she had had good behavior. She got one of the most precious little smiles on her face, put out her arms, ran over and grabbed my legs. She was so thrilled and excited to hear the affirmation she had good behavior while we were in there and her joy from that affirmation bubbled over into a great spontaneous hug that filled my own being with joy. My afternoon was filled with sweet treasures and surprises of great joy coming from some of the oddest and precious sayings, hugs, prayers, made-up games, adoring looks, laughter, and conversation from those two small packages able to deliver great joys. 

I appreciated a day without having to discipline and fight battles. It was a day of precious time together. It was a day of caring for and being close to each other. It was a day of knowing love through word and action. It was a day of hidden treasures. It was a sweet day.