Sometimes you just have to let go...

...and let things get messy. Now that I am a mother, I am more than ever acutely aware of my tendency to be a stickler for perfection. I wanted Kamila to see and touch the flowers...not yank and eat the flowers AND soil. Instinctively I wanted to quickly remove her from the alluring, soiled flower pot, but...I suddenly realized that we would both survive from dirty hands, soiled clothes, and possibly an "I-just-ate-an-Oreo" looking mouth. I stood back and delightfully observed.

She started off ecstatic about her granted freedom...

Let her hands touch previously forbidden territory...

 Was so grateful that she even thought of offering me some of her new found treasure...

I 

And decided to try some of it herself after I respectfully declined the offer...

I think now she might have an idea that not everything that glitters is gold and that maybe Mom says no for a reason.

I suppose sometimes we have to just learn lessons ourselves, take the good from the bad, and that in the end, regardless of what has happened, a smile is always better than a frown.

As I observed Kami's adventure unfold, I realized that I don't have to micromanage everything in my life (which I tend to do A LOT). Sometimes it is perfectly OK to just let go and let things happen, even if things may get a little "messy", or (for the sake of this analogy)  for things to not go according to plan. There will be times ahead where things will not play out the way I envision them to according to my parenting plans, but at the end of the day, things always work out. Dirty hands can be cleansed, soiled clothes can be washed, tears can be wiped, and in the end,  happy hearts and smiles can remain.