(This is a disclaimer: I love writing about seeing life from different ways, most of them filled with beauty.  However, just for the record, that this beautiful and endearing story is not what occurred today as I carried my son out of Target like a football and told him that other people have feelings too.)  Thanks for reading along…

Last Saturday evening, I heard tiny footsteps on the stairs, I knew it was my daughter whom we had just put to bed.  She had a busy day filled with lots of wonderful moments however her world was a tad bit overstimulated.  During the past year, I have grown to know so much more about the way she sees the world.  I have always said that she sees the little things, however its not just that, she feels the little things, she hears the little things and her ability to tune in to life, is one of the many things that makes her amazing, unique and well…Audrey.   I have taught myself to tune into these moments with her, do my best to see them from her point of view.

This particular evening, I could have gotten frustrated because it was the end of a long busy day, but I was tuned in and realized that she didn’t come downstairs to stall….she came down because she was having a tough time unwinding from the day.  Having spent the day in the busiest center of the world, Times Square, on a weekend at Christmas., you can imagine that even for me as a grown up, it was intense.  From the middle of the woods to the mecca of New York City, talk about a time warp, incredible and wildly opposite.  We had a blast, but her body and mind were not meshing well that evening when she hit the pillow.

She came down the stairs to tell me “The Worry Bully” was back.  It was something we had dubbed in the beginning of the new school year when she was having a tough time settling down at night.  I sat on her bed and listened to her say that the “Worry Bully” was keeping her up thinking about spiders and ghosts.  Of course, I could have told her not to worry about them because they weren’t in her room.  At first, I turned on the light and checked everything like I had done in the past…however this time, I decided we should give this “Worry Bully” a real name, like Ted, or Fred.  Once I gave her this idea, Audrey took all of her stored up messy energy and began to release it.  She laughed and said, “No, let’s call him Mr. Nudge.”  I agreed it was a fitting name for him.  Her sense of humor immediately made her feel lighter.

I asked her if we could think of some positive things to tell Mr. Nudge to go away tonight, so she could sleep.  She decided that Positive Porcupine was going to show up and that each of her needles would pop all of Mr. Nudge’s worries.  I looked at her astonished by her little creative mind, told her how proud she should be to find a solution like that one all by herself…she beamed from head to toe.  Then I tucked her in and she fell sound asleep in no time.

I walked down the stairs and paused and turned to my husband and said, wow…if that wasn’t a lesson in parenting for me.  I had met Audrey where she was, not where I wanted her to be…which was free of worries.   This allowed me to help her so much quicker than telling her not to worry, or coming up with reasons on my own why she doesn’t need to be scared, or getting frustrated because I was tired and it was a long day.   It could have a gone a different way…but I was mindful of those little moments.

The next morning Audrey came running into my room….in her own words, “Mommy, Mommy, I just want to praise you, I fell asleep sooooo good last night and had one of the best nights sleep and had the best dreams”.   Chuckling at her ability to articulate her feelings, I told her she did not need to “praise” me but only herself and that truly she was brave and had all the tools to make sure Mr. Nudge didn’t nudge her at night anymore.  This filled my heart with so much peace.

This story is a simple reminder to us all that our children can reveal to us so much when we stop and meet them where they are, see the world from their beautiful perspectives and try not to change it too much.

Thank you my Audrey for constantly showing me your world.

Written with love to my beautiful girl on her golden birthday…”You are my wish come true.”