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Friday, April 19, 2013

Mousie-see-Mousie-do

First, thank you all for the outpouring of kind comments, empathy, and positive mojo on my last post. As the comments came streaming in, I was touched at your honesty and willingness to share your own challenges with body image, and your struggles and strategies to resolve them. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now, on to something a little more cheerful. 

I've written about how I don't really see a lot of myself in Genevieve. When I was growing up, I remember Mom talking about what it was like having two kids who looked nothing like her. (When I hit adolescence, I started to look more like Mom.) I joked this last weekend that it only took Mom 30 years to have a baby who looked just like her.

Recently, I'm seeing a little more of myself in Genevieve, and in the best places. First I saw this:

Curls
Curls!
But it's more than curly hair. Genevieve has reached the age where she's doing amazing and funny things every day. She has developed a sense of humor, and it is completely delightful. She has also entered the phase where she wants to do everything I do, and that is an unusual combination of challenging and a lot of fun.

The first Mousie-see-Mousie-do thing that happened was a couple of weeks ago.

The sun was shining, Genevieve had taken a fantastic nap, and we were in the van running errands. I had the windows down, the Pitch Perfect soundtrack(which is FANTASTIC, by the way) playing,
and I was singing along to Party In The U.S.A., when I heard a perfect, appropriately-timed, delighted, rock'n'roll "YEEEEEAH!" come from the backseat. [Parenting win!]

And then there was today.

We were at Rasputin Music, picking up a couple of CDs for Genevieve (my daughter loves Adele!), when the store music came on. It was jazzy, with a good swing to it. She stopped in her tracks, looked at me, and busted a move. Just like we do at home (or the produce aisle), when a catchy song comes on.

It's days like today that remind me to focus on the things that are wonderful. I could be stuffy. Serious. Perfectly coiffed and no fun.

Or I can dance in the aisles with my daughter. You can guess which I choose to be.

Untitled
Me and my shadow.
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4 comments:

  1. TheaApril 20, 2013 at 12:48 PM

    Too cute! You will never regret teaching the Mouse to love music and dance. So much fun!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. KnittrippsApril 20, 2013 at 4:19 PM

    My little guy got a hold of my iPhone the other day and carried it around listening to the album Nevermind by Nirvana. I thought it was weird at first but more power to him I guess! Rock on.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Leticia BoothApril 22, 2013 at 10:01 AM

    Building memories is what it's all about! Sweet post!

    ReplyDelete
  4. DaniApril 27, 2013 at 11:07 AM

    Being in the moment is so important. I wish I'd done more of that when mine were little (it's taken me years to recognize and work on stopping being a Mommy Martyr, like my mom was).

    However, I have great memories of seeing the world through their eyes -- and singing along to our favorite songs is right up there.

    So several months ago (mine are adults and not always around), the 4 of us were in the car coming home from a restaurant when one of "those" songs came up on my iPod. All 4 of us gleefully sang the rest of the way home. OMG, that was truly awesome. Really brought home that we are still truly a family, despite not all being in the same house anymore.

    ReplyDelete

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