Ivy's Good Heart

My daughter Ivy...where do I start? In having a daughter and two sons I am able to see that there is a difference between raising a son verses a daughter. In my case, my sons have been, how do I say it...less complicated? Girls are complicated creatures, no doubt. Just when I think I have Ivy all figured out, she throws me a curve ball. And the older she gets the more complicated she seems to become. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Being a girl myself, I tend to think of it as ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL because underneath all the complexities is a girl with one of the most genuine and tender hearts that I know. She is so tender hearted that she tends to keep herself very guarded. It will be something we have to work on with her, to allow herself to show her true emotions more often, but I love when she willingly will show them and become truly sentimental.

A couple days ago sickness struck my body. I have caught a bugger of a cold and it is not a good thing in our household when I get sick. Especially during the holidays when all the kids are home. They want me to be there and play with them and cook for them and not be lying in a bed sneezing and dripping from eyes and nose groaning from the aches and pains...but there I was on Wednesday night, not able to tuck the kids into bed. Roger took over "tucking in" duties and I just stayed in bed reading and drifting in and out of sleep...miserable. I could hear Ivy though, she was busy doing something, she and Roger had worked out some sort of deal for her to stay up late because she came into my room and got the craft box and I could hear her until about 11:30pm scampering about the house. Just before I drifted off to sleep for the night she came in and gave me an invitation to "Mom's Get Well Party".

The next morning Roger woke me up and said that even though I was feeling terrible I needed to come out and see what Ivy had planned for me. I zombied my way out and saw that she had put up streamers all along the hallways accented with old birthday decorations. When I walked in the kitchen she had the table all set out and I sat in my chair and she asked me what I wanted for breakfast. I was far from being hungry, but I said, "I am not that hungry but could use some orange juice." She and Roger got the juice for me and then she had me put on a party hat. I drank my juice and noticed that she had wrapped three presents for me. She said, "Before the presents let's play a game, 'Pin the Hat in the Nurse' ". She had drawn this game up of a nurse and then she had this cute nurses hat that you would tape on while your eyes were closed (she couldn't find a blind fold). We played the game and then I opened my presents, she gave me two stuffed animals from her collection and some sea shells.

She then allowed me go back to bed and sleep for "one hour" (even though I was able to sneak in more time, hehe). I couldn't help but think through all of this, what a good heart she has and that she would think of something so special and sweet to do for me so that my spirits would be lifted while my body was totally miserable. She thought of it all on her own. Roger said he had nothing to do with it, he just let her go! As a parent I don't want to squelch this side of her. She is so creative and thoughtful and I want to nurture that because it is a good thing to express your love for someone in these ways. To take the time to do something special like this so they feel better and know through your actions how much you love and care about them.

I went to her later and told her how much this meant to me and that I loved that she thought of all those little details and that I knew how much work went into it. I told her that I could tell she loved me and I that I loved her too. Her sweet little face just lit up and we hugged. I think we are on the right track she and I. Even though daughters are complicated creatures and we don't always see eye to eye, we are showing each other our love and appreciation for each other and you can't go too off course while doing that.