Lately…

Lately, we’ve just been relaxing.

Chris and I alternate waking up with her in the morning.  She has Cheerios and apple juice for breakfast, and she’s the happiest, smiliest little creature you could imagine.

We spend all day together, playing, talking, walking, learning.  I chase her around the house and she squeals with delight; every day she gets steadier on her feet and stumbles a little less as she races away from me, but she always looks back over her shoulder to make sure I’m still there.  Sometimes, she chases me instead.

Whenever I have to go out — to the library, the grocery store, the bank, anywhere — I bundle her up and bring her along.  She’s my best buddy.  Why would I leave her at home?  She likes to come with me, too.

In the evening, we eat dinner and watch “The Office” as a family.  She recognizes the theme song and will come running from wherever she is in the house, to stand in front of the TV, flail her arms up and down, and listen.  And then she’ll eat anything we put in front of her.

Too soon after dinner, it’s bedtime.  I change her diaper, change her into her jammies, and we crawl into bed to read her favourite book.  Tonight, for the first time with me, she pointed out things in her book as I read it.  I thought my heart was going to explode with pride: look, my baby knows where the happy fish is!

And then she nurses; she is beatific, perfect, trusting as she drifts off to sleep in my arms.  Sometimes I just hold her for awhile and continue to read, the weight and touch of her against me too sweet to set aside.  Eventually, though, she rolls her head and stretches out, arms above her head, back stiff, and whines because I’m confining her.  My little lady enjoys being free to roam and move when she sleeps, and so I hurry her into the crib beside the bed before she wakes up and gets angry at me.

Lately …. life is grand.