Every so often your kids say something that moves you to the core. Not too long ago, my shy, friendless girl announced, quite out of the blue, to my husband that, 'Mama is my fwriend". My heart swelled to about 4 times its natural size. The fact that she still can't pronounce the letter 'f' without following it with the letter 'w' just made it all the sweeter.
A few weeks later, we had some dinner guests over. I dressed for the occasion, threw in my rarely used contacts, and put on makeup and jewelry. When my daughter saw me, she said, "Oh! But why do you look beautifwul today?". (Hearing her call me 'beautifwul' for the first time felt so nice that I've decided to let the second half of that back-handed compliment slide.)
Three is a funny age. Their curiosity and imagination are off the charts and their desire to express themselves is made all the more interesting by their sometimes limited (though rapidly accelerating) mastery of language and vocabulary. I love hearing the hilarious and absurdly innocent statements that only a three-year old can come up with. And I am moved to tears by the earnest expression of raw emotions, especially as I hear them for the very first time. It's amazing and astonishing and heart-wrenchingly sweet to watch my baby - and her relationship with the world - evolve at warped speed.
When I look at L., I can't believe how she's already becoming more little girl than toddler. Her face is changing every day. Her thought process is becoming more complex by the minute. And as much as I love laughing, and sometimes choking up, at the things she now says, I'll be sad when her articulation and vocabulary grow more sophisticated; when she no longer mispronounces her 'f's as 'fw's. I'm so happy to be on this journey of hers; to witness who and what she is becoming. But each night, after she falls asleep, I really just want to lean over and whisper in her little ear, "Hold on, slow down a little, please - it's all happening way too fwast!".
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perfectly told.
ReplyDeletereminds me that even if she drives me nuts, my almost 3 year old still says
'i will put this here need i case it later'
and it is profoundly cute to me.