Paisley's Wisdom

 Paisley ~ Four Years Old Today

I heard the little person sitting across from me in the Jacuzzi talking under her breath, saying the words  "possible" and "impossible," over and over as she ran a tiny brush through the fiery-red hair of a mermaid.

      And then, “Coco, it’s impossible,” she said.

I sunk deeper into the hot water, eyes closed thinking it was probably impossible to get a brush through wet doll hair. In my relaxed, semi-awake state I said, “Paze, nothing is impossible.”

She said,  "Well, Coco, if you think its impossible then just be impossible, because then it won’t be impossible."

          Obviously we were not talking about doll hair and she was giving this conversation much more thought than I was. I cocked an eye to see if I was still in the tub with a toddler. She barely glanced at me, instead she was focused on brushing Arial’s tangled, wet hair.

     (Re-read that sentence above. Let it sink in…I had to, and then I had to get out of the tub to write it down.) It’s not often I’m overwhelmed with a three-year old's wisdom but on this occasion I was.

I opened my eyes and said, "Wow that’s deep, Paze."

     Really, I was studying her to see if she had somehow morphed into a college student while my eyes had been closed.  

     But no. She was still thirty-six inches of adorable, soaking wet baby in a pink swimming suit with a wildly coiffed mermaid doll in her grip. She shrugged her tiny shoulders at me and said, "Coco, everything is not possible."

I said, "Paisley, everything is possible…do you want to be a ballerina when you grow up?"

     She said, "yes." Arial’s hair went into a ponytail.

     I said, "well it’s possible. You can be a ballerina. Or do you want to be a princess?"

     With a little thought she said, "yes," although Arial’s hair still seemed to require more attention than our conversation.   

     I said, "Well that’s possible too. You can be a princess!"

     Arial did a back flip off the high dive.

   "Well Coco," she said, giving me the palms up gesture, "what if I want to be a butterfly?"

I’m not one to blow smoke up a baby’s butt, so I just said, "Hey Paze, my sippy-cup is empty, pass Coco the wine, would ya?" (This is where my bite-my-lip-oh-shit-what-do-I-do-now face came in to play.) So I did what any savvy, smarter-than-a-three-year-old, self respecting grandmother would do...CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!!! I said, "hey honey, let me help you with Arial's hair...how about a braid?"

Here’s my truth: My heart explodes when I see her face.  When I hear her say, "Coco, Coco," about a hundred times a day it completely turns me into mush. She is a pint-sized package of delight and being with her is pure and simple joy, of which nothing else compares.

 

So this beautiful little person/princess/ballerina/mermaid/sous chef/unicorn lover turns four years old today and I am overwhelmed by how much space she takes up in my heart.   

 

Even when I crawl into that tiny tent with her and we sleep head to head, with her feet in my belly and her fist in my face, I love every minute of it. That little-bitty tent explodes around us with stuffed animals, dolls, dogs, and books,  just like my heart does. I love waking up and having the first thing I see in the morning be that sleeping face.  

I look forward to learning much more from her and to seeing life through her eyes. To watching her grow and to letting her perception open me up to the realization that wisdom does not always come with age. It sometimes comes in a small, really cute package and wearing peals.

As she turns another year older today,  I'm certain that every day spent with her will be a day that I learn, grow and love.

  Happy Birthday Paisley ~ Everything is possible!