Baby Love

Something amazing happened today. Another first for Giuliana, and possibly, my favorite so far.

I was folding some laundry and she was "helping" me. Her helping consists of picking up items that I've already folded, shaking them out, and then laying them back down. Extremely counterproductive, but you better believe I will not discourage her form assisting with any chore, even if that means more work for me!

Anyway, back to one of the best Mommy moments ever. She was so adorable that I stopped what I was doing to just look at her and admire her. I laid my head down on the couch, so now her head is above mine and she's looking down at me.

In a moment of pure emotion, she grabbed my face with each of her sweet little toddler hands on my cheeks, bent down and kissed me. Then she pulled away, my face still cupped in her hands, and said as clear as day, "I love you, Mommy."

This should not have caught me as off guard as it did. She has been talking for a while now. She regularly speaks in full sentences now. And one of the first things we taught her to say was the phrase "I love you." But we've always had to prompt her to say it. "Do you love Daddy?' "Tell Nona you love her."

She's also always been very sensitive. She likes to stroke my face as she drifts off to sleep. She frequently asks for "big hugs" which means that as soon as you wrap your arms around her, she squeezes you back as hard as her little 2 year old body will allow.

But this was the first time she came up with the words all on her own. She wasn't asking for anything or being silly. She was just acting on what she was feeling. It made me pause for a moment. I was filled with pride that she was able to put these words together to form such an amazing sentence. I was filled with wonder at her sweet little brain was able to correlate her emotions with her actions. Most of all, I was filled with so much love for this little girl that I felt like I was going to over flow with it.

I jumped up from the couch as fast as my soft postpartum body would allow me and I told her I love her too as I swooped her up into a big bear hug.

This little girl is the walking definition of love and my greatest accomplishment to date. She most likely will not remember anything that happened today, but it was one of the best, most real moments in my life, and a memory that I will cherish forever.