Fairy Gardens

Madelyn used birthday money to purchase a Fairy Garden.  She was so happy - hopping around like crazy - as she read the instructions and filled the planting areas with dirt.  Madelyn probably inherited her gracefulness from me.  She sometimes appears to fall just from standing.  So when she asked me to help her open the tiny package of seeds, I immediately had a vision of her in tears because she tripped and these tiny, magical seeds would be everywhere.  I reminded her to take her time and be careful.  She succeed.

Flash forward 30 minutes.  James comes in from outside and gets me.  Madelyn is in tears.  She got the entire Fairy Garden assembled and seeds planted.  She went to move the garden and somehow dropped the entire thing.  Dirt and the seeds had spilled all over the patio.  I remained calm and helped her scoop the dirt and seeds back into the container - trying to reassure her that the seeds would still grow.  Then James speaks up, "See Madelyn.  I told you Mom could fix anything."

And my heart melted.  Sometimes these accidents annoy me. Sometimes they make me laugh.  In fact, I'm trying to help Madelyn laugh at her clumsiness.  I mean, if you can't laugh at yourself, you have a bigger problem, in my opinion.  But on this occasion, I was reminded even during the less than fun mommy tasks of cleaning, repairing, and calming, they see me as the heroine of the story, the one who can fix anything.  Someday they'll figure out I'm not as powerful as they think, but for right now, I love the innocence of this and the small reminder of how important I am in their eyes.  It gives me strength to remain calm, be patient, and keep frustration at bay.  They are always watching me.  Observing.  Learning.  Remembering.

And with that, I have to think about how a real fairy is going to move into this garden, because a certain 7 year old is sleeping upstairs patiently waiting for hers to arrive.