I just went on the most precious walk with my little Beach Rose.  She’s 4 and she is just so excited about life and its wonders.

We must have been out “walking” for about an hour and in that time, we maybe went 5 houses down from ours!

She just had to stop to admire everything.  And I mean everything!  “Look, Mama!  Look at the ants.  Wow!  What a beautiful garden!  Isn’t that rock pretty?  Did you see the wood door, Mama?  Isn’t it beautiful?! Let’s pick some wildflowers, Mama.  Can you hold them? Can we pick those blue flowers?  No?  Why not? What is property?”

I am so used to running out the door.  Literally.  When I spend time on the streets of my neighborhood it is me jogging past the houses and flowers and pretty rocks and myriads of insects.  I don’t stop to smell the wildflowers.  Or pick them.  Or, I should say that I didn’t used to.

The pace of life that having my little girl has forced me to slow down to is so incredibly enjoyable and satisfying and simple and wonderful.  I am reminded, daily, of the little things in life and how miraculous they are, through her little mind which is blown away by the beauty surrounding her that I have taken for granted for so long.

Try to embrace slowing down with your little one.  It’s hard.  I know that you have a million things to do and it would be impossible to function daily at that pace.  But do yourself, and them, the favor of savoring the moment, walking with a stoop to find “treasures”, collecting a bunch of wildflowers and taking the time to smell them!