In so many ways, my daughter is a beautiful reflection of me. She makes me smile when I catch her doing something just like I once did or enjoying things I once enjoyed – like wanting to wipe her hands as soon as they get messy, but every once in a while I appreciate her for being her. She is a toddler, but she is growing into her own little person.
Tonight I had to take a deep breath, hold back my own quirks and smile at her being her own person. Several months ago I gave my daughter several of my Bennie Babies. In order to understand the next part, you have to know about a quirk I have had since I was a child. I like to leave the tags on my stuffed animals. I don’t know, I realize it is strange, but I have always left my tags on (well, at least since I was old enough to stop my mom). So, when I gave her the Bennie Babies, they of course still had their tags on. I prepared myself for something to happen to the Bennie Babies in the hands of a toddler, but I didn’t really expect her to specifically bring them to me and ask to have me take them off.
First she brought me a cat – “eh eh eh” – pulling on the tag and holding it out for me. I asked her if she wanted me to take the tag off, she said yes. I asked her what she should say and she said, “Peas tag.” I took a deep breath and pulled off the tag. A few minutes later, she brought me the bear, “Peas tag.” So, I pulled the tag off the bear too. It hurt a bit, like a band-aid, but I pulled quickly and the smile on her face and the “Anx” she gave me were enough to get me past the removal of the tags from my old buddies…