The Love of Learning

"The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn."

I love watching the excitement Little Chick has when she is learning and playing games! Like every mommy is with their children, I am so proud of all of her accomplishments! When I met with her teacher during teacher parent conference week I had a grin from ear to ear as we went through the list of all the wonderful things she had learned. Lately she has had a voracious appetite to write and practice the alphabet and numbers. Of course I was ecstatic when she knew all of her upper and lower case letters. She never ceases to amaze me. I am in awe of the light she carries within and the happy attitude she has towards getting to know something new. I love my Little Chick!! What a proud mama she has!

Smile Sunday

"The world always looks brighter from behind a smile."

It is Smile Sunday again and I am happy to share a big smile with you today. I started this, because a simple smile directed at someone else can create a ripple effect of smiles. So hopefully my smile will be contagious.

I had such a wonderful day with Little Chick! We both had a huge grin from ear to ear and lots of belly laughs while we were outside. I got her little pool out of the shed and cleaned it up. Boy was she happy. We filled it up with water and she had a blast. I hope you have a wonderful day with your family! Make sure to smile as much as you can. It really does have a wonderful effect!

Acts of Kindness

"Children are like flowers, let them bloom by giving them your warm smiles, your gentle words and your air of confidence. You'll be amazed at your garden."

I know I have said it in past posts, but an act of kindness is so powerful for both parties involved. There are so many opportunities in the day to do kind deeds. It may mean so little at the time of giving, but mean the world to the one it is directed at.

Have you ever noticed how throughout the day children are constantly doing acts of kindness. It is in their nature. Today Little Chick kept picking dandelions for me when we were outside. She would come to me carrying a radiant smile and say, "Mommy, this flower is for you." I made a huge deal over my beautiful gift, which excited her and encouraged her to pick more.

As I was hobbling around the house I bumped my sprained foot and made a disgruntled noise. Little Chick came running over saying, "You OK Mommy? I love you." She then grabbed my hand and guided me to the couch to sit. What better medicine could there be?

It sure does not take much for everyone to be kind throughout the day. But just like focusing on cherishing the moments, we also need to take a conscientious approach to doing good deeds for others. Just watch children and we can all learn something. It doesn't have to cost a thing - a simple smile is all it takes!

Cherished Moments

"Cherish the moments for they too, become memories."

L. Kaliski

I was looking at some photo albums and began wondering how the time has passed so quickly. When we get older our appearance can stay the same for periods of time, however, watching our children grow makes us realize how fast time goes by. Little Chick was just a baby not too long ago. It astounds me how much children grow and learn in just their first few years of life. It is a gift and a miracle all in one.

I need to keep reminding myself to "stay in the moment" so I can fully enjoy my time with my daughter. Somehow life and all the "stuff" we need to do each day gets in the way of truly being able to "stay in the moments" that I so wish to cherish at all times. I want to stamp the impression of these wonderful memories in my mind as they come and go. It is something we all have to diligently focus on each day so that we don't turn around in ten or twenty years and say, where did the time go?

Some of my favorite "moments" are when Little Chick and I are at the beach. It has always been such a huge part of who I am and now I pass this love on to my beautiful daughter. Time does not stop for us, so we need to stop ourselves and look at all that should be cherished each and every moment.

Thanksgiving Thursday

"Gratitude is the heart's memory."

It is Thanksgiving Thursday and once again I can't believe how fast the past seven days have gone by. It was such a wonderful week filled with holiday fun and family! I hope you had a spectacular holiday and week as well. Now it is time for my reflection of the five things I am most thankful for.

1.) Little Chick and family

2.) Wonderful friends! This week I want to say a special thank you to my friend Diane for helping me with Little Chick while my foot has been such a hindrance.

3.) For all of Little Chick's toys outside! With the nice weather she has been having such a wonderful time!

4.) For having a car! Yup, I know many people don't have the luxury of taking an air conditioned car to the store and work.

5.) For my beautiful sister who is always there for me!

Mama Chick

"On the occasion of every accident that befalls you...inquire what power you have to turning it to use."

It is so amazing when we start to see our children emulating the better part of ourselves. Today I experienced one of the sweetest moments with Little Chick after I got hurt.

My daughter and I love to take little day trips so I told her that we would go up north a bit and see some boats. We drove about an hour and twenty minutes to a little place that I used to love to take boat excursions. When we got there the schedule showed that there would be no boat tours today. So I immediately redirected our attention to the water and playing in the sand. I always keep sand toys in the back of the car for occasions like this. We had a great time!

Then as we were walking with all of our beach stuff back to the car I slipped in a hole in the grass. Yikes! I could not get back up. Poor Little Chick was crying because her mommy got hurt. What a little love! It was sprained pretty badly. So the trooper mommy that I am (and we all have to be in situations like this) got up and in the car. Some kind and concerned people helped get all the paraphernalia in the car for me. I drove while crying in pain to the nearest gas station and got ice for my foot and ankle. I called my wonderful mom and told her to be at my house in an hour.

In the car ride home Little Chick said, "Mommy don't cry. It's OK I am making a picture for you. Look at my face." I looked back and she had a huge smile on. My beautiful daughter gave me the gift of a smile in a time of need. If that wasn't enough to fill my heart, she then said, "I'm right here Mama, I'm not going anywhere." This made me cry even more because I was filled with such love and joy. She continued to say such sweet encouraging things the entire hour and twenty minutes back home. She was my little Mama Chick.

Family

"You don't choose your family.

They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
~Desmond Tutu

I am so thankful for my family! I am especially thankful that my mom has been such a blessing to Little Chick and myself. Growing up I was very close to my father. We were a very tight knit family, but I was my dad's little sidekick and somehow my mom did not get the attention or credit from me that she so deserved. It is funny how as we get older and become parents ourselves, we learn to appreciate our own parents more then we did as a child. Because my Dad and I were so close, it really wasn't until his passing that I began to spend more time with my mom and get to truly know her.

My mom is amazing! She is especially a wonderful grandmother! She is always thinking of Little Chick and singing her songs. The two of them love to do nose kisses and make "one eye" as they like to say. Thankfully my mom lives five minutes away and we are able to spend lots of time together. This is an absolute blessing!

Sometimes we don't realize what we have until we no longer have it. There are so many things I would like to tell my father and thank him for. Having lost him at a younger age, I am making sure to spend quality time with my mom and let her know how much I love her.

I just received two more blog awards from wonderful blogging friends! The first is, once again, The Versatile Blogger award from Jessica at "Mo Shiorghra". Thank you so much! I feel so honored! The next award I received was the Trendy Blog Award from Ashley at Adventures in Mommywood. Thank you so much both of you for thinking of Mama's Little Chick.

Here are the rules for the Trendy Blog Award:

•To receive this award, promise to share this with 5 other BLOGS that you think are Trendy too.•Post about your award in your blog.•List your Top 5 Trendy Blogs.•Share with them.•Leave a link to the Trendy Blog Button.•Tell them they need to give this award out to 5 as well.

I pass this award to: Jessica at "Mo Shiorghra", TV's Take, This Mama Razzi, Twenty Little Toes, Kami at Yellow Kisses.