One of the most exciting things about being a Mom is experiencing the world for the first time again. I have an excellent memory and I have memories of preschool (about the age of 3). But of course, they are a flashes and nothing very long. There are times I wish I could go back and see just how accurate my recollection of my preschool classroom and teachers are.

Being around a Toddler all day, makes you realize the little things you take for granted. We live about 20 or so miles from the Philadelphia Airport. So we get a lot of planes flying overhead. These were things that went unnoticed by Jerome and I. That is, until Kayla came along. Every time she hears an airplane fly overhead, she gets so excited. “Ooh – I hear airplane”, she’ll say. And she’ll most often drop whatever it is that she is doing and run to the window or door to look for it. Then I’ll hear either “I see him” or “Yeah, there he is” or (if she can’t find ‘him’) “I don’t see him”. These airplanes, which are very common for us, do not get old for her. And I can imagine it will start soon enough with Alysa. She does the same things with the moon and the stars and of course her buddy – the Mailman. She knows the sound of his put-put car. Then there are our walks. No matter who she goes with – me, Daddy or my parents – it’s a walk of oohs and ahs and pure amazement and joy through her eyes. She’s excited about every car parked on the streets and in driveways. She has to point out almost every leaf and stick. And don’t get me started if it has recently rained – the puddles are pure magic to her - “Ooh, I see puddle”. And then there is the size of things. “That’s a big one”.

Walking around the “block” before Halloween was even more fun. Even now, when we walk by this one house, she’ll ask “See big spider?” Of course, the big spider on its web is gone until next year. I truly can’t wait to be able to take her around after all the Christmas lights and decorations are up. She loves walks at night too, so she’ll get to see the houses in full glow.

I’ve always known and appreciated seeing things through her eyes. But it really hit home a few nights ago. I finally finished putting all my Camcorder tapes onto DVD. Monday night, I put the last full tape I had in the Camcorder and began recording it onto DVD. So of course, Kayla was excited b/c she got to sit on my bed and watch TV b4 bed. After Alysa went down at 7, I got the pleasure of sitting with Kayla and watching her experience all the things on the screen again. You could tell she didn’t understand the concept of the tape, b/c she continuously asked me to “See ball?” Or “See Daddy?” But the best part was to see how excited she got to see some of the things on the tape. There was footage of her at the Balloon Festival from July. She was literally screeching when she saw the balloons. She kept yelling “Bumble Bees!” when she saw the twin bees inflating. She was literally just as excited to see them on tape as she was when she was there in person. It was the same when she saw the balloons for her birthday party and footage of her in the ball pit we made for her party.

When I have watched the tapes, I watch it in amazement, as it’s too easy to “forget” just how little they were and how they sounded. Like I had forgotten how Alysa fit perfectly in the crook of my arm last Christmas morning (she was 3 weeks old) and how Kayla kept saying “Uh-oh” to the presents under the tree. Then when she saw her new Dora videos, she kept saying “Doda” over and over. But when I watched it with Kayla – it gave me a new perspective. I got to watch it through her eyes. With the equivalent amount of surprise, wonder and excitement that we had when these events happened.

I can’t wait to continue to see everything through her eyes and Alysa’s. These times go too fast and I am so happy to have these tapes to show me again and again how awesome the world actually is!