The Joy of Jasmine

My daughter Jasmine is a sort of magical child.  I've always thought of her as my Angel Baby because she came to us after a miscarriage.  The night she was born was absolutely glorious--like climbing a mountain and finding a pot of gold at the top.  I swear the heavens sang when she was born.  And she didn't cry--she opened her eyes to look at me and then went to sleep.  She awoke to nurse about an hour after her birth.

When Jasmine was a baby I moved from thinking of myself as a stay-at-home-mommy to focusing on being a Professional Mother.  Not a career woman who was also a mother, but a woman whose career was to be a mother.  Jasmine inspired me to be more than I had been.

She still does.

One of the remarkable things about Jasmine is her ability to entertain herself wherever she is.  In January we endured a long wait at a doctor's office and to pass the time Jasmine played for 45 minutes with 2 quarters.  She pretended that they were a mommy and a baby and they were taking a trip up and down the arms and legs of the chairs in the waiting room.  Not a word of complaint from her.  And while I talked to the doctor she played her own little game of hopscotch using the tiles on the floor.  She was happy, authentic, uninhibited.

She also loves to play that she is the mommy and I am the child.  She brings me pretend popsicles and admonishes me about not eating too much junk food.  She takes me outside to play and wants to zipper my coat to make sure I am not cold.  She takes my hand and stops me from crossing the street until she looks for cars.

Another spontaneous game she likes to play is 'Animal Rescuer'.  She comes running up to me outside, "Mom!  Mom!  There's a baby frog that got lost.  We've GOT to save him, Mom!  Come on!"  She's irresistible. 

I haven't really engaged in very much fantasy-play with my daughters until I began to follow Jasmine's lead in the last few months.  It is so easy to play with her and to experience her joy.  I think I want her to be a three-year-old forever.

It's such a cliche to talk about seeing the world through the eyes of a child.  I don't even think that an adult as jaded as I am could ever remotely experience the wonder and innocence of a child except by being led by a child who trusts and loves and engages life the way my 3-year-old Jasmine does.

It's good to have times of falling in love with your child all over again. 

I'm having a Renaissance with Jasmine.  She's amazing.
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Post Script:  After I finished writing this, I noticed a post from Dionna at Code Name: Mama about how she is struggling to enjoy her son who is 3-years-old and is not his usual joyful self.  I guarantee her Renaissance with her son is just around the corner.