Fearless little girl

I'm inclined to think that most 2 year old girls would not hold a chicken, hand feed a horse and beg to be pushed as high as humanly possible on the worlds largest swing. Lately I've been noticing (and coming to respect) what a brave little girl Lauren is....

Last week when we were walking down the driveway to meet the boys at the bus the neighbors horses came up to the fence. Lauren immediately grabbed some grass and ran over to feed them. She was not afraid at all to hold her little hand out to that big head and let the horse's teeth brush past her fingers sometimes holding the tiniest blades of grass for them to eat. Not once did I see her jump back or let out a single girly scream when they got too close.

Recently we got baby chicks and from the first time we brought them home Lauren wanted to hold them. This wasn't surprising to me, but what did impress me was how calm she was when they started getting bigger and didn't really want to be held. Trying to escape my daughters grasp they would chirp hysterically and begin dramatically flapping their wings. When I first saw them do this I thought for sure that Lauren would be traumatized by the dramatic show and drop the chicken and run. On the contrary she would continue to carefully hold the frazzled bird all along saying in a calm voice, "It's otay birdie, it's otay."

A few days ago I was out at the sandpit pushing the kids on the swings and I could hardly get Ben (my almost 5 year old) to let me give him an underdog. "That's too high mama!" he'd say, clutching the rope and tensing up with fear. Then at the other end of the swing set Lauren would be yelling for me to come back over and push her again because she was slowing down too much. "Higher, mama, Higher!" Every time I'd get her going really high I'd run around to the front so I could see her little face beaming with joy as the wind blew her hair back each time she swung forward.



I love discovering the inborn personalities and character traits of my children. Some are naturally loving, some naturally strong willed. Others are naturally compliant and have an innate desire to follow rules. They are all unique and each day their spirits unfold before my eyes and I wonder as their mother how these qualities will influence their adult lives. How will it be a part of the grown men and women they will one day become? I often wonder if mother's of astronauts or famous artists would say of their grown children, "I'm not surprised my son went to the moon, he always had a love of the stars or had an adventurous nature."

And what will my daughter do with her life? I'm sure I won't know the answer to this question for many years. But one day will I say when seeing the woman she's become, "I'm not surprised, ....for even at the age of 2 she was fearless and brave." ?