Capturing the Moments

Today has been one of those days where my little girl seemed to wake up on the “wrong side” of her toddler bed. She started the morning very needy and whiny, it took us much longer to get out of the house and start our day because she wasn’t being exactly cooperative, and even once we got where we were going, she just seemed to be having a difficult day.

Honestly, I dealt with it for a while, but finally the crying and begging just made me agitated to the point that I just kind of tuned her out.

We got home, and I changed her clothes for nap time, and she then proceeded to, when I turned my back for two seconds, go into the bathroom and climb right into the bathtub, wet with water from her bath the night before. There she sat, fully clothed, playing with her bath toys. I quickly got her out, changed her yet again so she would be in dry clothes, and then finally put her in bed.

But, as I sit her while she naps, I started reflecting on the morning, and find the recent moments of our day tugging at my heartstrings.

It seems that with each passing day, my little girl is growing into a big girl. And I know there will be moments where she will not beg for goldfish every two seconds, cry over her shoes, beg for mommy to hold her, or get into the tub fully clothed.

Although I might not consider this day “ideal”, I hope that I have relished even those not so stellar moments and allowed them to soak in, so that 2, 4, or 10 years from now, I can remember those days when she was my baby girl, and look back on them fondly, with a smile, and just laugh. I hope that I have taken time, amidst telling her "no" or correcting her behavior, to etch in my mind and on my heart not just the seemingly “perfect” days, but even days like today.

I remember when she was an infant, I would smell her and think “memorize this” or I would look at myself in the mirror while I was holding her and think “memorize this – soak it in.” Even now, as she says her prayers, crawls in her big girl bed, sits on my lap to read a story, or sings a song, I find myself wanting to capture each memory not just on a camera, but on my heart, in my mind.

I can’t make time stand still – my child was created by God for a unique purpose – so she must continue to grow into who He made her to be. But, I hope that in all my moments with her, not just her angelic ones, that I take time to remember that her growth is a process, and even when it includes getting in the bathtub fully clothed, I want to not get so caught up in the exhaustion and frustration of being “mommy” that I can’t take time to capture and memorize even those moments, knowing they will be gone as quickly as they arrived.