The Featured Mommy: Songbugs

I’m a musician, turned mom, turned MUSIC MOM — I have many years of experience educating, performing, and recording, and since I’ve become a mother, I’ve been creating books and CDs and games to teach small children about music and joyful living. At my blog SongBugs.com, I help fellow moms promote music in their own homes and communities, dancing through every day.

To me, my best mom moment is one that is so real and pure and present that it comes again and again and again. It’s the moment my daughter smiles at me with shining eyes, it’s the moment she falls asleep on my shoulder, it’s the moment she stretches out her arms to have me pick her up. (And hey, maybe it’s even that priceless moment she points to a puddle of pee in the carpet, just when I thought she was all potty trained.) It’s not a memory that I try to revisit in my mind — it’s the “now” that I can submerge into anytime I tune in. It’s those moments I used to look forward to, before I was a mom, and now I have the opportunity to not take each little moment for granted. It’s realizing that all of a sudden I actually am a mom, and now through my child I have access to a special treasury of love.

Listen to your child. They want to listen to you as well, but they can only do what they see modeled. If you crave simple and pure insights and direction in life, the heart of your child can often provide just that. As you create a complete circle of listening, you are better equipped to be your child’s guide as well. And above all, know YOU ARE LOVED. Stop and breathe deeply and create a space where your heart can hear this truth. Love keeps the circle of listening in motion.

I’m not “my own” anymore. Sometimes I just want to sit down with my own bowl of soup, but instead I alternate dangerously full spoonfuls with an eager eater and her teddy bears… I do my exercise routine with a little body climbing on my back… Instead of playing instruments on stage, I play The Eensy Weensy Spider sitting on the on the floor with a xylophone… I sit on the toilet while little hands give me shreds of toilet paper to wipe with (yes, potty topics are a theme around here right now)… Now that I’m a mom, I’ve had to learn a new way to feel peace every day. It’s not by pulling away and being alone. It’s by embracing the unit I have with my little one, as long as she’s little enough to thrive with it, and finding more fulfillment that way.