Lesson Number 6- They grow up so fast!

Sure enough, when i look back, she was just this small tiny little itsy bitsy bit of a baby. And now, she can climb out of her crib, walk on her own, dance, blabber and wish to eat on her own! What's next? Drive a car on her own? My husband M told me once that he used to drive around his favorite toy car when he was about 4 or 5, and boasted that he was really good for a kid his age. I passed it off as him being a show off. True enough his mother (my MIL) told me that he was really good at maneuvering around obstacles and stuff. She told me it was the cutest thing she ever did see.

Well i can certainly relate to that. Seeing my daughter walk and run on her own gives me great pleasure and pride. As if that milestone was a great feat equivalent to landing your own spaceship on the moon. Hey what can i say? I'm a mother.

Right now she's learning how to use the spoon and fork on her own. She's trying to learn how to use the dipper when taking a bath, because I get this feeling she would like to bathe on her own now. Whenever I soap her tiny cute body, she would push my hand away and she would rub both her hands and touch her face as if saying "See?! I can wash my face on my own! How hard is it to bathe on my own huh, mom?"

Experiencing these "firsts" can be so overwhelming and sometimes fleeting that the moment has gone before I even realized that she did something for the first time. I am a working mom. I work at home. I work for 8 hours of the day and the rest, I work on chores and mommy duty. Sometimes, I get so busy that I forget I need to teach my daughter her ABC's and 123's. More often than not this great task gets to be done by another member of the family. And although I am thankful for their support, nothing beats really to realize that Iwas the first to teach my daughter this and that.

And so I have resolved to spend less time in front of the kitchen counter top and more with my daughter - inside and outside of the house. I have made the list below to guide me through the coming months:

Church every Sunday
Visit the Zoo
Visit a beach
Buy those wonderful educational CD's - she loves Dora, The Backyardigans and Diego...thank God for Nickelodeon!
Read to her every day -- she recognizes and says balloon, dog, cat, fish, the color yellow and pink! I dont know why she doesnt like red...
Dance with her
Sing with her

I need to be frugal on expenses so I cannot enroll my daughter in Gymboreem or those nice helpful classes. I realize now that I have to do this on my own. And i have to put an effort to it. I am not only rearing a child, I am trying to be and learning how to be a good mother. Not the best mother - but someone good enough to love her, cherish her, support and educate her. They grow up so fast, so let's keep pace!