There’s no better feeling than being proud of your child. Don’t get me wrong I’m proud of toddler P everyday just because she’s my daughter and I love her, but then she says and does things that make me super proud. Today was one of them.

A couple of my good friends both call my daughter super clever and another always says to me she’s so clever. My natural mum bias sometimes makes me forget that she is very clever, I often assume it’s my natural instinct to think that she’s wonderful just because she’s mine but actually she is a clever girl. Little P watched everything and takes things in like a little sponge, she’s very observant and sometimes I don’t realise what she’s clocked and then later she repeats it, either saying it or performing the action. Her understanding of things amazes me everyday. She’s only 19 months and has been saying 4 word sentences for weeks, she can count to 10 independently (ok she skips out 7 sometimes) and attempts her days of the week (she’s clearly not a fan of Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday but who is) and since before I can remember has known the majority of her animal sounds. She can put her own shoes on, ok sometimes on the wrong feet and she can’t fasten them but she’s on the right lines, she’s showing signs of wanting to be potty trained, she can wipe her own face clean, has been adept at using a spoon and fork for months and regularly sports the phrase “my do it”.

All these things amaze me, they make me so proud and as much as I cry that this whole growing up process is going fast, I love seeing her clever and inquisitive mind develop and grow. Ok her knowledge of nursery rhymes and songs means there’s a constant pre-school soundtrack to my life as she flits from one to another that drives me potty, however I’m also aware that there’ll be a day when I miss it. However, her being super clever isn’t what really makes me proud, yes I am proud of her learning and achievements but I’m also aware that children grow and learn at their own pace, are individuals and that it’s not a competition or race for them to meet their milestones. I’m very aware that some have barriers, needs and obstacles that make it more challenging. What makes me really super proud is her personality and emotional intelligence, and what or who she’s becoming as a person.

I love her sense of humour, she’s becoming a hilarious character, she’s bonkers and runs around being silly, “I silly mummy” and “I funny mummy” she likes to make me laugh and puts on a fake laugh when she hears me chuckle at anything. She loves to make you smile and please you, she follows me around like a shadow copying me and “helping, I helping mummy” she just wants to be involved and it’s lovely. Toddler P is learning how to interact with people, she copies her friends, especially the older children as she just wants to be like them. Through watching her older besties, Miss A, Miss E and little L-pops, she’s learnt to play chase, hide and seek, bounce, tickle, sneak up after you and tease in a fun way. Seeing her learn to play and be friendly like this is what makes me super proud, because she’s learning to have fun and be sociable. She’s learning about the world around her and how she fits into it as an individual. She oozes sass and confidence and I love it!

Another thing that makes me super proud is her kindness. I’ve already alluded to it early in this post, but she wants to please. The other morning she saw my glass of water on the bedside table and reached it to pass me it with a sweet smile on her face, I jumped and shouted for obvious reasons to which she got very upset-she just wanted to pass “mummy’s drink” my knowledge of her knew she was just trying to me kind. Little lady P has started becoming very affectionate, she wants to cuddle and kiss you, she says “awwww” as she hugs and wants “suggling” on a regular basis. She likes to “stroking” and asks for it 9′ her face at bedtime.

Recently she’s started hitting, mainly in excitement and giddiness or when frustrated and she cannot control her emotions (typical toddler behaviour) so we’ve learnt to say sorry and use kind or gentle hands. She’s gradually understanding that this behaviour isn’t nice and I’m seeing her respond with disappointment when she realises she’s not been nice. She is saying sorry and stroking and cuddling without as much prompting and understanding that she can’t treat people like this. And that’s what makes me super proud, that she’s already starting to learn a bit about how to treat people.

I’m amazed at her emotional intelligence already-she’s still only very young but doesn’t like it when her friends are upset. We went on a wonderful day out yesterday with nearly all her little friends and my mum gang. On the way home her friend was upset in the back of the car, crying and my little lady hated it, she called out for me because she wanted me to stop her friend from crying. Her reaction to seeing friends is cute, she loves to cuddle them and play with them and will tell me if one of them is crying. She’s slowly learning to be kind and that’s what makes me super proud because that’s what is important.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish to portray my daughter as perfect, she’s a bossy, wilful and strong minded little lady that knows her own mind and tests my patience several times a day. She’s struggling with the concept of sharing and wants to lay claim to her precious possessions (I’ve already started an entire blog post dedicated to this). However, I am seeing her learn small toddler appropriate lessons in kindness and being a nice person. A lot is through her own mistakes but then this is a good way to learn, experience counts for a lot and her lessons in how to treat people are what I want her to learn the most. The people that matter to me most in life are those that have shared kindness with me, the people who I view as good people and that’s the kind of person I want around my daughter and for her to become.

So as toddler P keeps amazing me with her cleverness, it’s how she loves, cares and makes others happy that really makes me super proud.