Seeing the World through Her Eyes

The other day we went on a family bike ride. Chang had Sam in the front on the Bobike (picture of Bobike on right, not Sam and Chang, btw), Joey on her princess bike with training wheels, Elysha on the Kettler, and me on my mountain bike, my first extravagent purchase after I started working 13 years ago. We biked around our neighborhood, careful to avoid any major inclines. Sam would start fussing whenever Chang stopped to let us catch up to him, Joey was flying on her bike as she is itching to get her training wheels removed, and I followed behind Elysha. Let's just say the train before the caboose kept getting derailed by the sights and sounds of our neighborhood. I had to keep putting my foot down to keep from falling off my bike, due to lack of momentum. But it was so adorable.

"Ooo, look at that pretty flower."

"Mommy, do you see the thorns on that flower? Ooo...."

"Oooo, I hear a doggy in that house."

"Oooo, a kitty cat sleeping over there."

She was looking every which way but forward so she kept going off the sidewalk. Then she would worry that I wasn't following her so she would stop and look back at me. "Keep going Elysha." "Okay, mommy. Ooo, look, there's ants on the sidewalk."

While I am just watching out to make sure we don't run over dog poop, she is seeing all the wonders that LA has to offer, from two feet off the ground. Somewhere along the way, we grow up, we grow cold, embittered, cynical. We forget to "Oooo" over the little things in life. I am grateful to my kids who remind me to never lose that sense of awe (like Elysha on our bike ride). To feel good about little accomplishments achieved (Sam likes to get a rounding applause everytime he successfully manipulates a toy or stands up and dances). And to dance like there is nobody watching (Joey loves to shake her hips to music).