Assistance with translation in some lyrics

Question

寄せかえる波を見ていた　母の遠いまなざし

I'm used to sentences ending in a verb so I assume it could be translated as "Was watching the waves surge back". My mother's distant gaze." as separate phrases.

Am I right to say "My mother’s distant gaze was watching the waves surge back."

Similarly,

幼い私は　強く強く握った

顔をしかめて　母が力なく言う 「痛いよ」

"The childish me grabbed strongly. My mother frowned and said without strength, 'It hurts'"

I think that's incorrect as I'm unsure of 'who's doing what'.

Answer 1

寄せかえる波を見ていた　母の遠いまなざし
The distant gaze of my mother, who was watching the waves surge back.

幼い私 literally means "young I".
It refers to the speaker when he was a child.

So the translation becomes:
幼い私は　強く強く握った
As a child, I would grab strongly.