Mimi's Magics

As of late, I have been trying to “cool-it”—trying to slow down—to drink my coffee with two hands. I’m trying to sit and soak it all up because these two little ones, well, they won’t always be this little, and say such cute things, and cuddle me for no reason but to just be close to me. Not sure how successful I have been at this “two-handed coffee drinking challenge,” but as with a few things in life there is success in the trying.

As I sit here snuggled under an old quilt that I wish I made, but seriously—I ain’t got time for that—I once again find myself reflecting, reflecting on this one day, 5 years ago, when this girl I know showed up in my life and made all things sing, and sparkle, and magical. I’m not gonna lie, I kind of went into this whole parenting thing much like I do most things in life. The thought occurred to me, “seems cool, I bet I could that. Yeah, lets have a kid and see how that goes. I prefer to run my life with the motto that “over-thinking kills magic.” And lets just be real honest, my girl has lots of magics!

Five years later, I still think this whole parenting thing is cool, and I still bet (most days) that I can do this. So far, so good. This little girl made me a mom… magic! She has magics that she knows about and uses to their fullest powers and she has magics that she has yet to realize. For a while now, I have felt compelled to record some of the magic that Mary Alice Kunz has taught me these last five years:

“Until further notice… celebrate everything!” This girl loves a party! She seeks out reasons to be with people, reasons to have ice cream, reasons dress up, reasons to try something new. At times, that is a birthday party, or a holiday, or the summer solstice, or Tuesday. It doesn’t matter the reason she just wants to do life with people and with as many people as she can because people are special and people are reason enough to celebrate EVERYTHING! Magic!

“Persistence and humor can get you what you want.”  Now hear me out, I am by no means a fan of “Mama, Mama, Mom, Mom, Mom…MOM!” This is not magic, this is annoying. No. Girlfriend plays this same game, but with a magical twist. Last night was a good example:  brother and sister were having an argument about who was going to sleep in the basement with their cousin.

Sy:  “Mimi, I’m going to sleep in the basement this night.”

Mimi:  “Oh no you’re not, I am!”

Sy:  “Nope, I am.”

(continue the back and forth)

Mimi:  “Alright Buddy. The one that gets to sleep in the basement is the one that is sitting with the pinwheel pointing at them, who is sitting right here, and so… oh its me! (delivered with the tone of one that is shocked)

Persistence and humor = magic!

P.S. She slept in the basement.

“Feel your feelings.” Though the thing that currently has this girl in hysterics may not seem like a big deal to me, the adult, it doesn’t mean that this is not a world crushing, magic stealing moment for my baby. I need to treat it as such more often… for fear that she may loose some of her magics, of course. I am by no means advocating that she ONLY feels her feelings. No, logic + feelings will take her very far. What I am saying is that neither is more or less important, they are a “both/and” situation. A well-rounded person can both think and feel. Thinking keeps feeling in check and vice versa. I just don’t want my girl to ever “learn” to just “stuff her feelings.” Feelings are important and they are important to understand. It is important to understand the motive behind our feelings. Right now, at five years old, it may seem like the only motive behind the hysterical outburst is that I gave her the blue bowl and not the green one. But really, blue may be her favorite color today, and blue may be the color that makes her feel special today or even magic, and so it is my job as her mama to teach her how to express her feelings in appropriate ways. I want her feel her feelings, to know when she feels special and what things make her feel special.  I want for her to know how to communicate those things because I believe that by knowing her own feelings and the motives behind them, she will be able to recognize the same feelings in others and know how to handle them with care. Magic!

“She sings off-key, but with great spirit.” Yep, that’s her! To. A. Tee! Mary Alice’s life is a running musical. She narrates most of her actions to song. Original scores, of course. Unfortunately, her most frequent duets are done with yours truly; so her pitch is off, like way off, all the time, way off. You’re welcome, world! Though at five years old she still has the magic of “great spirit.” She doesn’t realize yet that there is a flaw to her singing, its just fun, and happy, and makes those around her smile.  Making people laugh and smile is one of her favorite things to do and one of my favorite things about her.  She is just plum funny and intense, intensely funny, spirited… yeah we’ll call it spirited. She has joy and passion about… everything. The other day I was putting her to bed and she says to me, “Mama, do you remember when I woke up and there were balloons in my room, and I just jumped out of bed, and ran, and turned on my light, and just ran back to my bed and jumped for great joy!?” “I remember something about that.” “Yeah, we should do that again sometime!” Great spirit or magic?

 Mimi, "The Girl on Fire"

“She had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.” Perhaps it’s the idea that all we should have for dinner is “chips and candy.” Wait, that may not be ridiculous, this may have, or needs to happen! I’m on the fence with this one… pressing on. An abbreviated list of ridiculous that Mary Alice delights in: carb loading at every meal, wearing pink and red together, reading past her bedtime (when she doesn’t even know how to read), sugar on/in everything, laughing at jokes she doesn’t understand, working the word “poop” into most conversations and laughing uncontrollably when she does, watching the same movie over, and over, and over until she has every single word memorized (this one goes for books as well), taking 1.5 hours (on average) to eat dinner, squirrels, singing under the covers, changing the subject to compliments whenever she is in any sort of trouble, “burtending” that the beach towel she has wrapped around her neck is “a cape like Elsa’s”… the list could go on and on… MAGIC!

“I don’t know what lies around the bend, but I’m going to believe that the best does.” She loves to know things just to know them. But, just because she doesn’t know or understand something doesn’t mean that it isn’t going to be awesome! “This is the best book ever!” Stated before she has read the book. “This is the best movie ever!” Stated before she has watched the movie. “Mama, you’re the best singer ever!” Wait, no, wait a second, she has heard me sing and still believes this… because she’s MAGIC! She believes in her core that this world is all rainbows, unicorns, summer, and winter snowfalls. And who am I burst that bubble? Oh no, this is one of her greatest magics! I mean, seriously, can you do this… for real?

 

So in the last five years, we, as a family, have become increasing more silly. We have lots of tickle fights. We jump on the beds, the couch, the piles of dirty clothes. We make things and gush over them. We smile at the world. We introduce ourselves to everyone we meet. We love people and try hard to make them feel special… we show off our magics because who doesn’t like magic anyway?!?

“She’s a mess of gorgeous chaos, and you can see it in her eyes.”

“She is delightfully chaotic; a beautiful mess. Loving her is a splendid adventure.”

I want to be just like her when I grow up!