It's about the process!

     I have often told people that I believe I have learned more about children from having my own children than I ever learned in one of my Elementary Ed. classes.  My children show me things and teach me things all the time -- sometimes it's just that I have to be open to see them. Now, I definitely admit to getting in ruts.  For example, a common rut for me is the "what's for dinner rut" where I seem to make and serve the same things.  Sometimes this is broken by a friend's suggestion or seeing a new recipe somewhere or realizing that I could switch things up just a little and have a completely new dish.  We all love those "Aha moments."  Well, now I have to admit to another rut that I have had recently had -- a "way of thinking rut" if you will.  For some time now my sweet girlie has been asking me about sewing.  Naturally, I am thrilled!!!  How wonderful to share the love of sewing and fabric and fun with my girl!  Then I start to worry about sharp needles and this and that (because that is just the kind of person I am).  And, maybe because I have so many unfinished projects laying around, I start to think to myself that I need to come up with some kind of something for her to make that will give her a finished item - a sense of accomplishment.  And there lies my "rut thought"  -- that of her having a finished something.  I take in the fact that she is just four and so we need to start small and basic.  Then, there it is again my "rut thought"  that tells me she has to have a finished product.  So, as you can imagine we don't do anything because, after all, what kind of something is a paranoid mother of sharp needles going to have her little girl sew.  Now, my sweet girl is just like any of your children, I'm sure, and they don't forget things and so, she keeps mentioning it. And I keep feeling bad that I can't think of anything and guilty about trying to deter her to other things.  Then one day, just the other week, I had that kind of "aha moment" where I heard (REALLY HEARD) what she was saying -- "I want to sew mama"  She wasn't saying she wanted to make something -- she was simply saying that she wanted to sew.  Bless her for hanging in there with me!  I started to think....I had (in my paranoia of sharp needles) bought some yarn needles.  I have yarn (from learning how to knit).  I even have pink yarn!  Now what?  Well, with the suggestion from a dear friend, I cut off a piece of that "non slip stuff" you put under couch cushions to keep them from sliding around and put it in a small hoop that she could hold in her hands.  Aha!  So, I cut off a piece of yarn, threaded it through the yarn needle, knotting the end and handed both the needle and yarn, and the hoop to a very happy girl.  I showed her how it is just like those sewing cards I made for her -- up through one hole and down the next.  She was thrilled and proudly proclaimed "Sophie sews!"  Yes, my dear girl, you can sew!  When she got done she gently laid it in my yarn basket and said "I'll lay it here so I can sew some more later."  She wasn't at all discouraged about not having a finished something of somekind, she was simply elated to be sewing.  Once again this mama learns a most valuable lesson (one that I should have remembered all along).  Sometimes it is not about the finished product, but more about the process.