Call Me Mommy

As I have been writing down these Mommy Moments, I have felt very blest and strengthened! However my thoughts have also been distracted negatively, 'you have these moments but no one calls you Mommy.'  I successfully pushed away this thought most of the time, yet it was there to crawl out of the shadowy recesses of my mind when I was weak, more susceptible to  giving into negativity.

A few days ago I had a Mommy Moment that is helping, me resolve this thought, and dispel it.  I decide to go to a special church meeting with my brother's family, having the company of my three nephews.  As we were waiting for the meeting to begin I had my four year old nephew on one side and my two year old nephew on the other. We were carrying on normal conversation and little activities that come from such situations. When suddenly my two year old nephew leaned up right next to me his little arm around my back. His head tilted up toward me. I looked down at him because this was out of the ordinary. When he saw he had my attention these words reached my ears. "I love you Milla" (Milla is the name by which my nephews call me. )  I returned with" I love you"! He again leaned closer to me "I love you too"  after he said it a second time I looked into his eyes wondering why he said it again. It was almost as if he was trying to burn or make permanent the words he had spoken to me.  After those few moments of looking at each other he reached his head up purse his lips wanting to give me a kiss so I leaned down to accept it and so he could reach my cheek. He gave me a kiss. After this moment past it felt familiar like he had done almost this very same thing before. After thinking on it, I have a vague memory of a similar event with my nephew but I didn't listen that time, I did this time.

My nephew had to teach me twice, but I needed to hear and understand. I am grateful to him for his diligence. I am starting to understand the need to be called Mommy, is not important, yet it is the love a child has for me!

Thou Shalt Not Jump

I was at my friends house the other day and they were getting their little boy ready for bed. He was in his PJs quietly looking through his books we were all busy doing something for a moment or two and then we heard a variation on these words come from this little boy, "Jesus said no jumping." A little confusion followed as us adults try to figured out what he just said, and why? It was super cute but way off...

It was my friend that was able to make this connection for us. Earlier on in the day they had been reading bible story about Jesus being tempted to jump off the building, along with His other two temptations, from Satan, and Jesus said no. Nothing more took place on that topic has far as she knew. Until he made his statement at that moment. We all had a little chuckle over it yet the moment past and it was forgotten. We all moved on with other conversation and then with our lives. Until it was many days later and I was traveling home with my family for Thanksgiving and something in the conversation reminded me about this little funny story that took place with my friend's son.  I shared it with them and we all laughed. I started talking about it and as I was thinking out loud about this event I was taught.

This smart little two year old boy had heard a story about Jesus and with the very best reasoning that is given to a developing child at his age he pondered on it until he came up with a conclusion about what the message of the story he had heard.  He was learning from the teaching of Jesus the best he could. We smile at it and move on but what a lesson he taught me about doing the best with where we are at the time. That is what this life is all about anyway. We take the knowledge that we manage to retain through our daily lives’ and we make decisions or conclusions about them. Building upon our understanding and knowledge of the world around us as well as our spirituality.

In many cases when finding my Mommy Moments I need to put in the effort to think about a child and the situation. To really learn from the child.

Monochrome World?

For my  Thanksgiving  dance lesson plan I normally ask each child as I call role to tell me something that they are grateful for. The normal answers are cute and largely directed by previous conversation or the responses of other children.  For example if we were talking about Christmas everyone is grateful for presence or the new favorite is anything related to “Frozen”.  There are the insightful group that will talk about their families or God. Which I respect and understand. This particular little girl  was grateful for something that I had thought of only in passing if at all. The simpleness of  her answer was  a profound insight. She said this, “I am grateful for colors…. because this world would be very boring with only one color.” I wish I could explain exactly what took place inside me when I was given this response. It was like having an enlightening moment and something deep inside you changes. I began to see the world a little differently. I see the colors more  seriously now. This world would be very boring and bland without colors. Leave it to  a child to teach me how to better see the world around me. I have not been living in a world of one color yet I sure have not been seeing them all; now I am starting to.

First Thanksgiving

Last year I decided to try something new in one of my classes and see if there was some movement lessons that could be learned. I found little contour line drawings of the characters in the first thanksgiving story and I colored them and told the simple story of the Native Americans and the Pilgrims helping each other and have a dinner of gratitude. The story we learned every year in Elementary School. I started the class with the question, “Who knows the story of the first thanksgiving and can share it with us?” I wanted to know the foundation these children had of happened. Well in one of my four year old classes I received an answer that has both changed my outlook on the first thanksgiving story as well as how much we can learn from children. This little girls answer went something like this…

“There was a group of people that lived far away on the other side of the world, on an island. Their king would not let them worship God the way they wanted to so they got on boats.  They traveled a long time to a new world where they hoped they would be able to worship God the way they wanted to. They were having a hard time in the new world because it was different, so the nice people that lived their already, the Indians, taught them how to live, by how and what to plant and when. They were able to share with the Indians as well. So during their the fall they decided to have a dinner to say thank you to each other and God for giving them a place they could worship Him.”

I had always heard the story in a secular school and so having God as a major roll I had not really considered. Thinking about it I should have put two and two together. However it took a child’s simple telling me of a story I thought I already understood for me to really grasp the message of this story. I am ever so grateful to this child telling and they parent or teacher that taught her the story this way. After the her telling I took out my paper characters and told the story with them. The children then did a beautiful dance about the story and gratitude.

To The Givers

This past week I had a very different Mommy Moment. I attended my friends Relief Society Meeting, a woman’s organization for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  This moment is different because it does not center on the children themselves but on the wonderful Mother’s of these children. I agreed to come to this activity we ate pumpkin treats and wrote thank you notes. This group of women just happens to be a good number of women that I have taught their children or babysat them. I was able to talk to these women, these mothers. As and equal and feel their love for me because I had interaction with their children, at some point. One at a time each one of these mothers came and talked with  me wanted to get to know me and I truly felt their love. Most of them I had brief conversations with in the past but a few I met for the first time that night.  Too many conversations that night to have allowed me to write any thank you notes as was intended.

I write a thank you note now, as we turn our hearts and thoughts to gratitude this month, to those loving women. Women and mothers that not only share their children with me that I might be able to love and teach them, yet also want to get to know me love me for being me. Here’s to those women I spent time with and all the mothers that have share their children with me.

THANK YOU!

with my whole heart!

Story Time

A few weeks ago I was watching my nephews and they were getting tired. Fighting with each other a bit so I asked if they would want to read a story and had the two older boys pick out a few books. I layed on the couch with the baby and one laid beside me the other above my head and they all listened to the stories quietly. A great peace came upon me and I am pretty sure the boys felt it too. We read book after book and they were all happy. How long this lasted I am not sure but that moment was a perfectly complete moment that I will treasure.

I have always loved to read and will always love to do so. I have on other occasions read to these boys but this night was a heaven on earth moment. Where my love of reading was successfully shared with these boys I love so much. There is truly power and peace in being able to pass something on that has changed your life and could change that of others.

"No book is really worth reading at the age of ten

which is not equally - and often far more 

worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond. 

Someday you will be old enough to
start reading fairy tales again."

-C.S. Lewis

Skipping Angel

As I was writing my latest post I remember an incident about a year ago that supported the topic of allowing children to lead and blessings that can come from that. It was the start of a new year, last year and one little girl was having a hard time finding the courage to participate fully in class. I remember trying many different things to help this child but she mainly just stood there week after week. My assistant and I would have her halfheartedly doing things by the end of each class so we knew it could be done. Then one week the idea came to me to not have me or my assistant go skipping with her but a child. I picked a girl to go with her but it didn’t work very well the shy child just kept walking thereby slowing down my little helper, after a short time she would just let go and the shy girl would again just stand there. I don’t remember if it was this started the same day. If I asked her or if another little girl in class saw the need I was trying to fill, but this little girl came up and took the shy girls hand and started skipping. One skipping and one walking, but my little leader did not give up. For the next couple weeks this little leader would see her standing the shy girl not dancing and go and take her hand and dance with her. More and more this shy child opened up and after fewer weeks than my assistant and I tryed, this girl was brave and dancing on her own and now had a good friend.