sweet beginnings

Do you remember being a child and learning something new? Something exciting, something wondrous, something amazing? Do you remember wanting to share that something with everyone that you met? Wanting to do it again and again to see if the outcome changed?

SweetPea learned how to play Candyland this week. To some, it might be a small thing. After all, its a preschool game aimed at moving a little gingerbread pawn around a brightly colored board with absolutely no reading or math skills to speak of. And to most, that's exactly how its viewed. But to SweetPea, it was a rite of passage into "big girl" things. It was the chance to PLAY a game with her siblings and mama. It was the ability to delve into the previously undiscovered territory of "board games". It was a voyage into pure discovery.

With wide eyes, she would draw a card and yell out the directions that she saw. "One orange space", "Two purple spaces... One, two", "I got a popsicle! Now where do I find that popsicle place?" As time and time again, SweetPea beat Punk, Peanut and myself, her confidence grew. SHE could do this. She didn't need mama to read complicated directions to her. She didn't need Punk to move the pieces the appropriate number of spaces. She could do this all by herself.

And it was just the first step.

SweetPea is growing up. She is learning and expanding her horizons. She is showing her thinking skills and engaging us all in her play. And we are happy for her, celebrating with her, helping her to challenge those goals that she puts up for herself each day. Candyland is only the first step in gaining that independence from toddlerhood that she wants. But its such a sweet step in that direction.