Oh Adeline

 The will of my daughter is a strong one. 

She is fiercely independent and simultaneously very soft-hearted. 

She is outgoing, not passive. 

She is passionate, not mild. 

and I love it!

She, like any other 2 year old, needs a lot of correction, a lot of direction. 

As her mother I have been praying and reading and learning on just the right way to parent her. 

Slowly but surely the tantrums are sometimes turning into talks, and her reasoning is sometimes even in sync with my direction. 

She and I now hold conversations where she understands and remembers and uses the information fed to her. 

She is so intelligent and eager to learn anything she can get her hands on. 

She likes to make us proud, she likes surprises, and she loves to be told she looks pretty. 

She has many songs she enjoys singing, a couple of books she's memorized, and most importantly she's developing a sweet and tender prayer life.

She's a pretty awesome girl.

Being a parent is a great responsibility. 

It's the greatest job I've been given, and as far as I'm concerned there isn't a lot of room for error. 

Our kids should be our priority, now before they are looking in the wrong sources for the attention and direction we are to provide them with. 

With managing a marriage, a household, finances, jobs, bible studies, play-dates, parties and get-togethers, and millions of other things in our busy lives, I think sometimes we forget that when our child is tugging on our pants saying "Look Mommy!" that "just a minute" are really minutes that are passing by quicker than we know. Our time with them is precious.

The other day I asked Adeline to come here. She replied, "Not right now, Mommy, I busy."

Man. 

Wonder where she's heard that. 

I instantly felt an enormous amount of guilt for ever having said that before. 

She watches what I do.

She listens to I say.

I better straighten up!

I've been reading Bringing Up Girls by James Dobson, and I'm really taking in so much. 

[I definitely recommend this book to anyone parenting a daughter of any age. I also hear Bringing Up Boys is awesome, but I won't be reading that for another year or so.]

It's a book on raising a girl in today's world popular cultural influences. 

So far, it's been a great read!  

So anyway, the reason why I'm spending nap time blogging is so I can share with you some of these pictures of Adeline in my high heels. 

Yesterday as I was nursing Gideon in my rocking chair, I heard heavy clonking on the porcelain floor. I looked over my shoulder only to see my wobbly 2 year old walking (better than I can) in my 4 inch high heels. 

"Look Mommy I in you shoes!"

I want that memory of what I saw in that second to stay with me for a long time.

She put her hands on her hips, brushed her hair out of her eyes, and worked it like she was born in those things. 

Philip and I exchanged looks and smiles, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. 

I could tell. 

Her grace was short lived, because she soon announced she had to poop. 

Hah, I love that kid.