MUDfest 2015 // On being the mom

Give them an inch, they go a mile.

 They first began just squishing their feet in the mud. No big deal, I said. It's just a little mud, I said.

 Next they began squishing their hands in the mud. No big deal, I said. It's just mud, I said.

 Quinn be like "I'm coming guys!"

 Next was this video: smooshing his face in the mud, so he could go wash it off in the hose and do it all over again. No big deal, I said. It's just mud and water, I said.
MVI_1509 from Kimber Cutler on Vimeo.

Let's take a closer look at this dirtiness.

No big deal, I said. They're having so much fun, I said.

Picking your battles. Defining the boundaries. Trusting you child. It's all so very hard.

This instance of mud fun was literally no big deal to me. I remember loving playing in the mud growing up. It just made sense that there was a bunch of mud on our sidewalk and Max was playing outside, that meant he was going to play in the mud that day. It was calling his name and that was completely fine by me. Some parents ask their kids not to play in water, mud, sand, get dirty, whatever, it doesn't bother me a bit 99% of the time (Unless he's gone outside once he has his PJ's on ready for bed. NO WAY am I going to let bed time slip through my tired fingers when I'm that close to getting him to bed, ha, we all have our limits).

At times I worry I'm too relaxed of a parent. Who am I to tell Max the way he's playing is wrong. He's just 2 and he's playing, is that so bad? Ya, he loves to dump the WHOLE toy box out to play, that's ok. He's just playing.

When it comes to hurting others while playing that is of course different. But that's not what I'm talking about.

I want to step back and give this boy space. The world is constantly telling us how to do EVERYTHING. It's only going to get worse for this little boy over the next 10 years. So much more worse than I can imagine. So why not let him be little?

I love Maxson's spunkiness, thrill, energy, and excitement for life. He is passionate about life. Want to go swing? YAAAAA!!!!!!!!! I want to be as excited about swinging as Max is.

Dear little Maxson loves this beautiful life Heavenly Father has given us here on this earth, even down to those ugly bugs (BUG!!!!!!!!!!) he loves them!

Am I as appreciative as Maxson about life?