Daughter - Guest Post by Becky Christman

Today we have a guest post by my friend, Becky, from Naptime Confessional.  Becky and I did our Masters together at Marian University. She is now the mommy to her beautiful daughter, Lia (seriously, she has the most gorgeous eyes!!) and she has a baby on the way! I'm excited to share her post with you! Enjoy!

Miz Independent

So Kady asked me to write a little bit on having a daughter. I thought a lot about a lot of things. I could go sentimental about how I keep a journal of notes I write to Lia about once every couple of months because hopefully one day she'll be a mommy too but also so that she knows how crazy in love I am with her. Then things popped into my head like my fear of princess loving mean girls and eating disorders. Or about how I watch Teen Mom and pray that my daughter never ends up on MTV... or on any reality show. I assume most moms of only boys don't worry so much about these things...

But what I've really learned is to let Lia be Lia, even if it's not always what I want. Lia is a go getter, not a cuddler much to my dismay. She is spunky, bright, and tough. In fact just last weekend she fell down and scraped her knees in her Mimi's driveway. I didn't even know she hurt her knees until I took her tights off! She wears a pink and yellow cape, a monster hat she calls "pokey hat," and will pull any hair bow out of her hair faster than you can put it in. She talks in a monster voice even when it embarrasses me. Like when I told her to "come here," as I was trying to put her coat on, and she repeated it in the monster voice in front of company. I definitely lost my Mother of the Year nomination after that one. But then she amazes me with her ability to learn. She has a memory better than anyone and soaks up knowledge like a sponge. As a teacher, I didn't want to push any formal learning on her too early. But Lia lit a fire under me by learning her letters basically on her own. Now we play learning games and she loves it. She asks me for games all the time. 

When I dreamed of my little daughter, I saw cuddles and kisses and all those sweet girly things. But what I got was so much more. I don't get cuddles and kisses nearly as often as I like, but that makes them more precious. Instead I get to laugh at her silly style, marvel at how she learns like a sponge, and be proud of how she need can swing on a big girl swing and slide all by herself. I only hope that she stays independent and makes choices using the brain in her own head... and doesn't end up on reality tv.