Sometimes I hear my words, my reactions, my voice coming out of my children’s mouths. I’ll admit, these are not always proud moments. These moments often remind me that I need to change they way I react to stress, to be more patient, to be a better model.

But there are times when I hear my girls say things and I realize, there are some things that we’re doing right. Over the weekend, Rose told us several times that their assistant principal was celebrating her “25th birthday.” The AP was new last year but made an immediate impression on all of our girls. Just from their stories and daily recounts of their school day, we can tell that Ms. D presence is felt around the school building in a positive way. So on Saturday, as I sat at the table slicing or doing homework, Rose grabbed a piece of paper to make a card for Ms. D. I helped her spell her name, not paying much attention to her working across the table. I didn’t look up until I heard her sounding out another word and then finally asking me, “How do you spell appreciate?”

Her word choice caused me to pause. Arnauld and I are both pretty vocal in sharing our appreciation with others. We have a lot of people that we depend upon and who show up in our lives in various capacities. Appreciate is probably a word Rose hears daily, but this was the first time I had witness her use it herself.

Then last night, as Arnauld and I bustled about the kitchen, cleaning up from dinner, I heard Rose say, “Thank you mom and dad. I appreciate you putting the dishes in the dishwasher.” Adi would say she was just trying to be our favorite. I say Rose is learning to notice the people around her and her grateful heart shines bright.