Mother's Day

I have been meaning to write this entry for a long time and Mother's Day has inspired me.
There are lots of inspired tales about being a mother that I could comment on but I would like to focus on something I have been thinking about for...2 years, 7 months and 5 days...that I am the mother of a girl.
I don't know if man feels this intense pressure of being the example of manhood he sets for his son. Being a parent is hard enough. I can tell you that I feel, as my daughter never takes her eyes off me, that I have the monumental responsibility of being the representative of the human female to my daughter.
She stands in the doorway of the bathroom watching me get ready in the morning. She sees me put in my earrings and asks if she can have earrings too and hands me my shoes. What is she thinking? That she wants to me?
They say that babies aren't born with a sense of gender and that is something we put on them. That may be true for the most part. My son calls my daughter, "he," and "him." But it seems my daughter knows she is a girl or at least that she and I share some of the same physical characteristics. She knows she is a girl. She loves pink, princesses and baby dolls - those that know me know I never encouraged this. It just evolved. She just evolves...on her own.
She wants to go on every ride at Busch Garden's. Even the ones that I am too big for and she has to go on alone. She is not afraid. She is my daughter. Could I have instilled this lack of fear?
She is the youngest in the house yet she makes her voice known. If you don't hear her at first, don't worry, you will.
What did the mothers of Hillary Clinton, Billie Jean King, Katie Couric or Admiral Grace Hopper think their daughters would be up to in life? What kind of women were they to encourage their daughters to be successful? Am I that mother?
My daughter is adorable and beautiful. And not just on the outside. I can see her beauty shining through her from deep within. A 2 year old with deep soul?
I will return to my first thoughts...that she looks to me to be the example of womanhood. Me! Me? I was worried having a girl. Who was I kidding? My fear of having a girl was that I would have be the example. Of course, my son looks to me as an example but not in the same exact way. A boy will always be a boy but a girl will be a woman. My little woman.
She is kind and gentle to her "baby." Could be a baby doll or stuffed animal. She hugs it, kisses it, puts it to bed and I have even heard her sing to her baby...what I sing to her, "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You," by the Four Seasons. Am I her role model?
She is an independent girl. She is stubborn and is at odds with her father - as they share some of the same temperament. She is my angel.
I think she is here in the world to teach me something.
One day, a few months ago, I asked her a series of questions, as she sat on my lap and I rubbed her hair...
"I wonder what you will be? Will you do great things?"
"No."
"Will you cure cancer?"
"No."
"Will you be President?"
"No."
"Will you be famous?"
"No."
"Will you be a great woman?"
"No."
"Will you love your mommy?"
"YES!"
That's my girl!