MY Miss Chevious

For several days now I have wanted to write a post solely about my love and complete adoration for Eden. I feel like my true feelings for her and our real relationship may not be conveyed accurately since most of the posts that include her are tales of her..."destructive behaviors."

Finding words to describe my feelings for my children have always been difficult, but the past several months I find myself so speechless over Eden. After writing that last sentence I seriously sat here staring at the computer for about ten minutes trying to figure how to express my feelings for her through words and I still don't know how to say it. I will just start typing otherwise this post will be left undone waiting to be published forever. And what a shame it would be for my Miss Chevious not to be able to read this and know what a little love bug she is to her mommy. Of all three of my children she is the most cuddly, snuggly, always willing to give & receive hugs/kisses. I remember one day Hope had hurt her feelings somehow and I told Hope she needed to give her a hug. Eden was crying and I told her that Hope was going to give her a hug and immediately she stopped crying and a smile spread on her tear streaked cheeks. Sadly, Hope did not follow through with that hug, but she at least let Eden hug her, which she did and obviously she had forgiven her sister for whatever she had done that hurt her so. I love the way Eden caresses my arms as a way to soothe herself. It makes me feel needed and important to her. It shows me that she loves me and my imperfections are no matter to her...I am still her mommy and right now I am what she needs. She tells me often and out of the blue that she loves me. Actually, she says, "I whaas ew, mommy." She is so full of love that I think she may burst out into little sparkly Miss Chevious hearts one day.

She is a very intelligent child. If I remember correctly, she was about 14 months when she learned to sing her ABC's. She knew how to say all the letters and she knew the melody to the song and could sing it all by herself, and she would...over and over and over again. I received many compliments from people about this fact, but the fact is, that I don't remember teaching it to her. She picked it up from somewhere though and helped teach it to her big sister! Sometimes I look at her with wide-eyed amazement at how unbelievably smart she is. She has been participating with family prayer for several months now, but usually I have to help her along. Last night...last night was incredible. We asked her if she wanted to say the prayer and she nodded her head. She folded her arms and began with something resembling, "dear Heavenly Father." I couldn't understand most of what she said even though she was sitting right there in my lap about 2 inches from my face, but she needed no help at all. She thanked Heavenly Father for quite a few things. The things I could understand were, gma, Hopie, beach, fish (we had just been to the beach earlier that day and saw some fish). The prayer was pretty lengthy and at one point Hope leaned over and whispered, "in the name of..." but Eden whispered back, "No. I say the prayer," and continued saying her prayer of thanks. As I watched her pray I thought back to that experience I had while writing The Waiting Place post and my heart was so full that I could see and hear and feel her learning to communicate with her Father in Heaven. It is not often that I feel pride in my accomplishments as a mother (I tend to be very hard on myself), but last night I knew without a doubt that I was doing something right and was so thankful that I had followed through with her dad in teaching her and showing her how to pray. I know that praying is something that she will turn to often in her life for help and guidance and I'm grateful that she has learned so early to do it.

Eden is funny. She loves to make her brother and sister laugh and does things just to amuse them. One Friday afternoon while picking up Noah, I took the girls into his classroom a few minutes before the final bell rang. Eden ran up to Noah and he greeted her with open arms, the way he always does, and picked her up for a hug. He held her and said to his friends, "Hey, watch this." and then he told Eden to blow a raspberry. She did and all the kids laughed. Apparently, this was very funny because they told her to do it over and over again, laughing all the while. I could see pride on Noah's face (which I thought was funny because all she was doing was spitting in his direction), and Eden looked very pleased with all the attention she was getting.

Sometimes I look at what she is doing and wonder where in the world did she get that notion? For example, yesterday while we were grilling dinner she randomly went to the middle of the yard and laid down in the grass, started pulling grass and piling on her stomach. She told her dad she was sleeping.

When she put on Hope's cape she smiled and said, "SUPER Goofy!"

This child is a very bright light in my life. I joke a lot about her unruly-ness and the messes she makes, but it is nothing in comparison to the love she brings to our family. She is a beautiful piece of the puzzle that makes our family. Without her we simply would not be. I love you, MY Miss Chevious!!!