A German Adventure

DH and I abandoned our baby girl and escape to Germany for a week. Okay, we left her safely with her grandmother and they both had a great time, and so did we. It was hard to leave her for so long, but we did Skype a few times and stay in touch. And I really think the trip was a good thing for me, my husband, and for our marriage. Being a couple doing something we love to do is a good thing. It was a special trip for our 5th anniversary, coming up on July 8.

I know that I've raised a few eyebrows leaving for a week, but I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm not supposed to want to leave her. Maybe it was just the length and distance of the trip. But I have always been a wanderer and traveler. We've traveled all over with Sprout and we'll continue to do so, even this summer. We also want her to be secure and independent and know she can survive without us. If she were a different child, we may feel differently. But we were confident in her care and in her ability to handle us being away. And we were right.

Anyway, it was an amazing trip. Perhaps I'll tell you more about it in the coming weeks as I get myself back into the right time zone :)

I'm in Awe

Lately, I'm having more and more of those moments where I just look at my little girl and just think, "wow, she's really her own little person. She wasn't and now she is. And she's my little girl."

I love that she wants to learn and, even though it drives me crazy, I love that she asks me to read the same book over and over until she really knows it. Then I catch her "reading" it to herself. I laugh at her when she gets crazy excited about her number puzzle or begs to go for a walk even when it's 97 degrees outside. I smile at her silly faces and the goofy inflections in her voice when she says certain things.

I was putting together a photo book for DH for Father's Day and looking at the pictures from the last year, marveling at how much she has grown and changed. I see her all grown up walking to the car carrying her lunch box on her way to Mother's Day Out and I get a little teary, but in a good way. What joy she has added to our lives!

Sippy Cups

So, last night, Sprout and I were wandering through Target. She needed new sippy cups. So, we found the right section and then my dilemma began. There were "boy" colors and "girl" colors. I needed some take and toss cups (we reuse them until they fall apart or are eaten by the dog, by the way). I picked the green and blue ones over the pink and purple. No biggie.

Then it got harder. For the fancier cups, one set had pink flowers and the other had cars and trucks. The flowers were way cuter, but I felt like I "should" buy trucks. I was seriously frozen. What do I do? Eventually, I found the easiest solution to the problem - let Sprout choose! She chose the flowers and that's what I bought.

I have these moments all the time. I want her to know that it's okay and wonderful to be a girl, but know that she doesn't have to be limited to "girl" things and "girl" colors. I want her to be confident and empowered and I realize that what sippy cup she has when she's less than 2 years old will not make or break the values she has as she gets older. But I also know that the little things are sometimes the most important. That's where we send the most powerful messages about what we really believe. So, I probably fret too much about the colors of sippy cups and place mats. I just want to keep a check on myself so that she always knows that the whole world is open to her.