summer snapshots

As I've just made a vow to reflect a little more on the precious moments of everyday parenting, here's a couple of snapshots from this past weekend:

.. taking Lilly to the Como park zoo and conservatory and seeing her expression of wonder and fascination when she saw real live giraffes for the first time in her life (and also seeing the excitement in my husband's face when he saw a wolf, his favorite animal as a kid),

.. Lilly's glee upon returning to the city pool this weekend (finally recovered after a month of sickness), jumping up and down in the water, splashing and pretend swimming,

and then there are all the moments of endearment that happen on a daily basis:

.. how she wakes up in such a good mood most days, miss chatterbox cafe from the first second, pointing out her foot, or my hair, or the sun, or her teddy bear, as if greeting them upon seeing them all again for the very first time,

.. how she'll then announce she needs to go potty, which I'll take her to do, upon which she'll describe to me what's she's doing; peeing, tooting, maybe pooping. Then bending over so I can wipe her cute little bum, standing up afterward and looking me in my face to comment on how good she is at going potty.

.. after which she'll pronounce it time to make coffee and breakfast, upon which we'll stumble into the kitchen together, she taking out her little coffee pot as I get mine going,

.. how she'll pull up a chair to the kitchen counter when I make lunch for us, snacking on mozzarella cheese and pickled cucumber, describing the sandwich food I've spread out for us,

.. how she'll run to meet papa at the door when he comes home with more thrill than I've ever seen a child greet Santa Claus,

 

.. funny little things she'll do, like cover herself in tattoos of stickers, or put marker lids on her finger tips, stretching out her fingers,

.. how she'll pull out her books and study each page, describing what she's seeing, reading some by memory of how she's heard us read them to her,

.. how she'll trustingly reach up to grab the hand of my good friends when we're at one of their houses for play dates with their kids,

.. how she'll walk around with her baby doll Millie, talking to her, hushing her, making food for her,

.. how her face breaks into big smiles when she runs fast or bikes on her trike, praising herself for how good she is at this,

.. how she walks into the local bakery where Julie works, ordering "Julie's bread" (Brick Oven's artisan sourdough bread),

I could go on, but I think that's enough gooey comments to soften the political edges of this blog, for now.