Beyond the Boogie

I'm lying next to my 7month-old daughter as she plays.  She picks up a book and studies it, rolls onto her side and smiles at me, then drops the book and grabs both feet. She tucks the tips of her toes into her mouth. 

However, the only thing I see is a boogie happily lodged in her nose.  It doesn't seem to be bothering her, but it is bothering me, immensely. 

  

She looks at me and says, "dadadada baba?" 

In this moment, I cannot appreciate her sweet, melodic voice. 

All I hear is the boogie. 
All I think about is the boogie.  

Maybe I can get that boogie right now? 

If I'm fast, she won't even realize what I'm doing! 

In the meantime, I notice the dried avocado from lunch smeared on the side of her face.  I decide to give her ears a quick check for wax.

At this point, I have lost sight of my bright-eyed daughter who is playing and choosing to engage with me.  I am distracted by these small imperfections and desire to fix them ASAP.  This is evidence that the motherly instinct to constantly groom my child can easily become an overpowering distraction.  

Changing the lens in which I view my loved ones is the work that lies ahead of me.  By reigning in my critical eye, I keep myself from interrupting moments that matter with things that do not. With practice, I am one step closer to becoming the mother that always...

• lights up when her child enters the room, instead of assessing attire and state of hair.    

• listens with her whole heart, instead of correcting pronunciations. 

• looks past the arbitrary imperfections to recognize that her child is perfect, boogies and all.

But who's going to get those boogies!?  

Instead of sporting my tunnel vision goggles to execute a drive-by nose picking, wax mining, and face wiping, I plan on giving future care practices their own time and space, out of respect for my daughter and her body.   

And from now on...

it's going to take a lot more then a boogie to distract me from sharing special moments, with those I love the most. 

To read more about grasping moments that matter check out Hands Free Mama