From today

Picture, if you will, me holding Martha on my lap and trying to read and respond to e-mails. Noa comes up to me with a pen and paper…
Noa: “Mommy draw flower for Noa?”
Me: “Sure” (draw quick flower and hand it back) “Here you go. There’s your flower.”
Noa: (handing pen and paper back to me) “Now draw princess Martha and princess Noa.”
Me: (struggling to draw with a baby in arms who is trying to reach for the pen… and selfishly trying to get back to my e-mail as quickly as possible) “There’s princess Martha and … there’s princess Noa” (try to hand them back to her)
Noa: (pushing pen and paper back at me) “OOh! draw stars.” (meaning star wands that all princesses have)
Me: “Ok. There’s Martha’s star and … Noa’s star. Here you go.” (try to hand her the paper and pen)
Noa: (still not taking it). “OOh! Need bags! Martha’s bag. Noa’s bag!”
Me: “Oooo-k” (please note, at this point, my artwork which is already not much to look at is getting less and less recognizable by the second. I draw quick “bags” on the stick-figure arms) “Here’s your picture. “(try again to hand it back to her).
Noa: “uuuuuuuh.” (not taking it back) “OOOH! Cheese.”
Me: “CHEESE?”
Noa: “Yea. Cheese. Martha Noa need cheese.”
Me: (with Martha getting antsy in my lap for wanting to do some drawing herself) “Ok, I’ll draw the cheese but I think you need to go show this picture to your babies now.” (I draw the cheese and hand her back her picture). “Here ya go”
Noa: (taking her picture and going over to her babies on the couch) “Look! Princess Martha. Princess Noa…”

It’s little encounters like these, amidst my own preoccupation with the stuff of life that is less important, that remind me to step back and enjoy these girls… with all their ansty, crazy, cheese-loving cuteness. I laugh so much everyday…

Tags: Martha, Noa