Stopping and Watching

This is my favorite part of being a mom.

Like all parents, I usually find myself caught up in the day-to-day, rushing, planning, cleaning, cooking, nose-wiping, tantrum-ignoring, and so on. My eyes are on the clock. Time for lunch? Time for nap? Is she up already? Time to make dinner? What time is it? Can I count down to bedtime yet?

But I love it when I can take the time to just stop. And I watch. New questions, like tiptoes, quietly cross my mind.

What is she thinking? What does she see? What is she tucking away in her mind about how the world works? What will she do with that rock/stick/leaf/book/toy? What is it to her? What is she thinking? What does she see?

Cambrie loves to touch things. I'm a toucher, too. I'm the person who has to touch all the interesting fabrics on the clothes racks while browsing and who likes to walk barefoot outside just to feel the concrete or grass on my feet. I love to picture Cambrie storing away these textures and feelings as she explores: Rocks are cool and rough, sticks are bumpy and light, last year's leaves are papery and crumbly.

I love to wonder as I watch her. For instance, this one afternoon we were outside, she went to every ledge she could find, turned away from it, slowly backed into it, sat down, smiled a little, then jumped back up and kept exploring. Why, I wonder?

She reminds me that I, too, love to watch and explore--something that's getting harder and harder to remember. It's refreshing to see the world with such new eyes. I start to find pictures like these cropping up on my camera, simply because something made me stop, look, and smile, and I don't want to forget what I saw. (Though I hate that it makes me think unromantic, materialistic thoughts like "I wish I had a better camera.")

I hope that even as my little girl grows and learns more things to fill her mind and occupy her time, she still manages to keep that curiosity and wonder for the world around her. In the meantime I'll just keep stopping and watching...

She's so tiny in the larger picture! So small!

...watching her, that tiny little human being, forging her way in this vast, beautiful, complicated world.