"Mine"

Yesterday we went to Kindermusik and out to lunch with my friend Missie and her daughter, Celie, who is a few months younger than Lu. While the girls were waiting for their food I was giving Lu blueberries and crackers and was sharing them with Celie. As toddlers are inclined to do, Celie was very "enthusiastically" demanding more and more blueberries and crackers. Lucy made a little face and I asked her if she had something to say and she said yes, and then using her book said, "Mine!" My heart nearly burst right out if my chest!

It is ironic, the feeling of pride I felt about Lucy making essentially a "greedy" comment about her snacks! Parents are supposed to teach kids to share and be fair, and after my initial elation passed I did tell her that I know they are hers, but it is nice to share with our friends. However, "typical" toddlers say, "MINE!" It's what they do, and it's what Lucy did too, just like every other toddler! I don't even know how to express how happy it makes me that Lucy was able to say and do something just like her peers do, even if it was one of the less desirable attributes of young children.

Lucy has literally not reached a gross motor milestone since she learned to stay in sitting on her own, when she was about 7 months old. If she is lying down, she can't sit up on her own. All of her liquids come to her in a bottle that I give her sitting on the couch, she cannot dress herself, or feed herself, or walk, or play with most of her toys in the typical way. She can't hold a crayon or a paintbrush. But she can say "Mine!" She can say anything she wants to, whenever she wants to, and to whoever she wants to!

Her continuing progress and success with the PODD book makes all of those other things a little less rotten. I feel less sad. I realized that sitting on the couch last night. When the day is done and we are just sitting quiet and still on the couch, I am always aware of a lingering sadness and anxiety about what the future holds for Lucy. Last night, I felt it significantly less...all from that one little word: MINE.