Brave.

Two days ago my daughter discovered my belly button. Who knew a belly button could harbor so many minutes of curiosity, hypothesis, experimentation and conclusion after conclusion? She attempted to remove it. She checked to see how much of her finger could be swallowed in the abyss. She even tasted it, and attempted to NOM it over and over and over when she realized it made mommy laugh.

These are the moments that make me proud that I put aside my education to create a person, and for several years I will be the sole educator of this person. It is up to me to encourage her to explore things, to test them and to make the decision to laugh or ponder or move away.

As my little girl moves from infant hood to  the insane world of toddlerism I am bracing myself constantly yet pushing her to discover. I already am telling myself to let her figure things out herself. It's terrifying, and inspiring. I didn't realize at only a year old it is now my job to step back. I am happy to say that after just a couple weeks of this attitude, my daughter no longer cries after face-planting into the carpet. She gets back up, stands back up and tries again. It is the best thing I could see my daughter do, and I know if I can continue to be strong and let her question, test and discover the world on her own, that she is going to be alright.