An Up Day

Today was an Up Day.

Every so often, the Diva has a "Down" day. Husband and I made up the phraseology to get me through those mornings where no amount of prodding, pushing or threatening could get the Diva to move faster, follow directions better, or even generally comprehend what I was telling her. I'm sure we all have Down days here and there, but in a Diva the contrast is amazing. For 30 consecutive days she will independently dress herself, make herself breakfast, and be ready for the bus in 90 minutes tops. And then one morning, you will find she put her shirt on inside-out, she made herself a marshmallow based breakfast, and the bus is waiting at the end of the driveway while she tries to get her shoes on the correct feet. Those days are the worst.

But today is a happy day - today was an Up Day.

My first glimpse of Up-Day-Daughter was at her soccer game. Last week we had a little chat about keeping your eyes on the court, and not on your "fans" (a boy who graduated last year was at the game, and she was smiling at him 99% of the time she was on the court...I told her in the car that if she did that again, I would most certainly yell across the gym for her to "STOP LOOKING AT THAT BOY!" She promised me it wouldn't happen again). We also encouraged her to run to the ball. Thus far, her participation has been limited to a 3 foot square that she guards with her life, or until another player runs full-speed at her, then she gets out of the way.

But today, she was a lean, mean, Diva-machine.

We were playing last year's state champions (for context, last year we didn't win a single game). Their players were mostly huge boys, who kicked the ball so hard it would fly through the air and hit the end wall at least 10 feet above the ground. I was a little concerned about my sweet, passive Diva being on the floor. What if she was beaned in the head, or was run over by Big Foot?

I had nothing to worry about. Tonight, she was all about kicking that ball. She must have kicked the ball down the court at least a dozen times. She left her square and pursued the ball. She pursued the ball even when big boys were bearing down upon her. And at the end of the game, she actually seemed a little disappointed that it was over! As the girl who fouled-out of every basketball game her 8th grade year, I was ecstatic about her aggressive attitude, and praised her improvements in the car.

Then, as we were chatting about her day, Daughter told me the entire story that she read in school that day. It was about a family of bears with surprise seeds. Instead of flowers, squash grew. The brother bear made fun of the bear, and he was sad. But then then mother bear cooked the squash, and it was Yummy! For Daughter to be able to recall, and then retell, a story with that much detail - I was amazed. I gushed again at the great day she was having, and then she said, "I talked loud today," which is another skill we are working on...for her to offer that little tidbit made me want to cry.

And here's the kicker. Daughter had such an Up Day, such a super-steller day, but none of it really mattered to her. What she enjoyed the most was all my gushing over her. Her bedtime prayer was essentially, "Thank you for my mother. I love her so much. World's best mom."

There is a deeper lesson here - along the lines of, a mother's praise is the best prize of all, and that maybe I should be a little more generous with it. But I'm a Tiger Mom, and today is a day for reveling in my Diva's improvement and success. She's come a long way, and I'll need the memory of this day the next time we hit a Down spell.