Teaching kindness

I have a teacher's heart, and there's so much I want to teach my precious little girl. I want to teach her to sign. I want to teach her to read. Sometimes I want to teach her to say "Mike Wazowski" like Boo from Monsters inc.

But mostly? I want to teach her to be kind.

I want to raise a tiny human who knows how to treat everyone around her with love and respect. Who takes care of other people. Who helps. Who knows that right and wrong are about more than just following the rules.

And you know what?

I'm doing it.

My 18 month old shares.

She helps me clean the house (you should see her with a broom).

She gives her stuffed animals to daddy when he's sitting on the couch by himself.

She comforts people who look sad.

She hugs everyone and everything.

She is the sweetest person I have ever met.

And I know why. I want to say that I'm lucky, but the truth is, I know that no matter how many things I get wrong, I am getting the right things right. She knows how to love and how to be loved, how to help, and how to give because it's what she's seen. Because it's how I live my life.

I used to worry about how I would teach her empathy, how I would make sure she never became a bully. I don't worry as much anymore.

In my life, I've been a good student, a good teacher, a good friend. I've done a lot of work that I'm really proud of. But my life's work now? This small person who looks like me? Makes me prouder than any of it.

I'm linking up with Charity for the Mother's Pride Carnival. What are you proudest of as a mother?

Science

A couple weeks ago, I got a call from the Infant Cognition lab at a major university near me. A cold call. They even asked me if I had a baby.

But then they asked if we wanted to participate in a study. I thought about it for a second and then thought "well, what else am I doing?" and agreed. So I made an appointment.

This morning, Baby Girl and I drove downtown. A grad student met us at the gate to swipe us in with her access card. She walked us inside, got some demographic information and went over some consent forms with me.

Then Baby Girl and I watched an animation of some balls bouncing off each other. For about 10 minutes. And that was the whole study. The research assistant gave Baby Girl a board book as her compensation for participating, explained to me the purpose and the preliminary findings of the study (oh, be still my teacher's heart), and we were on our way.

Did we cure autism this morning? Did we make a major breakthrough in human development? Did we pioneer new methods for early childhood education.

Neh. But I like to think we did our own little part. For science.