Dear Junior

Dear Junior,

This evening you woke up in the hotel bed at 10pm after sleeping for an hour, and you decided it was time to play with mommy. I tried to lay down next to you and close my eyes so you would catch the cue. Sometimes that works. But today, you wanted to reach out and grab small strands of Mommy's hair and run through them with your little pincers. I snuck a peek and saw your look of utter fascination. Then you caught me peeking and you blinked once...twice...and wrinkled your nose as you grinned widely with the sweetest smile ever. It's as if you were shouting, "MOMMY YOU ARE MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD FOREVER AND EVER!!!" At least that's what it looked like to me. 

My heart melted over and over. 

I can't tell you what a joy it is to be your mom. From your unending grins and joy, to the way in which you arch your back and cry for five seconds in protest when we put you into the mousetrap, to the way you amazingly learned not to crawl past the edge of a bed and instead crawl and wait for daddy or me to get you, to how you carefully grab bits of food with your little pincers at mealtime, to how you suck your left thumb and grab your froggy for comfort, to how you vocalize "ahh!" after we pray and say amen, to how you charm strangers to no end with your waving and winning smile, to how you rest your little head on my shoulder when you're shy or tired, to how excited you are to see me (and me, you), there are seemingly boundless reasons I delight in you. Who knew that the person who once referred to children as "creatures" could be so taken by you, a baby??

Love to Bathands,

Mommy