As much as there is a great deal of mundane in motherhood, there are also little moments of magic. I wrote this on a particularly mundane yet magical night a little while ago.
Tonight I came home early from watching the BYU game with Andrew to get Adelina to bed at a reasonable time. She went golfing with Andrew earlier this morning and had a blast, and I’m so glad they got to spend that daddy-daughter time together — it’s so important for them, and me!
Anyway, I got her in the bath and she is just loads of fun. She can basically get herself undressed, she knows to grab her bath toys and put them in — she even noticed some were missing (I wasn’t sneaky enough ha!) and went to find them in the living room before she would climb in! Then she sat there and did her usual mixing with cups and so forth. She even talked to me about her busy day with daddy, about his “bobo” (he got a nasty gash and stitches from a rafting trip last month and finally got the stitches out today) and him hitting balls at the golf course. It’s amazing what she can recount nowadays! I love going over her day with her in the evening and watching those little gears spin.
I got her hair wet and washed it. Now, she knows enough to tilt her head back when I ask her to and keep it there so she doesn’t get water in her eyes. That took a long time to learn, and quite a few tears! Then I shampooed it and did silly hairdos for her. Of course she wanted me to give her the bubbles from all the suds, and she loved those. I had to snap a picture which doesn’t do it all justice — those tiny eyelashes defined by the water droplets, her rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes.
Then came time to rinse and empty the bath. I asked her to pull the plug and empty the water from her toys so we could put them away. She’s on top of that. Then she climbed out and we dried her off; her teeth start to chatter. At first she’s upset about it but then I start imitating her and she thinks it’s funny. I’m kneeling on the bathroom floor rubbing her dry, and somehow she starts saying “yo” and I say it back to her and she thinks it’s hilarious. She says it and I repeat it back, peals of laughter.
Just sitting there across from her in that sweet little moment, with both of us in fits of giggles, is magical.
I comb her hair, we put on a fresh diaper, head into her room, get some jammies on. She picks up books and starts telling me all about them. She’s really into this book my sister-in-law gave us, where all the pages are scenes where you’re supposed to find things (eight balls, three crabs, six sailboats, where’s pirate, etc.). I started singing a fun French nursery rhyme about sailboats once when she pointed them out and now she expects me to sing it every time she finds them. It’s so cute how she follows along with the gestures and asks for more verses!
Then she picked out two more books — I’ve started checking out two a week at the library for some variety — and we read those, and then it was time for songs and prayer and bedtime. She knows exactly when it’s time to say “AMEN!” and she says it with gusto. Then of course she climbs all over my pregnant belly (ouch!) and requests extra songs when I lay her down. I say one last goodnight and close the door. I smile as I hear her talking to her baby doll about her day while I walk down the hall… and soon, she’s blissfully asleep.
Cartwheeling down the aisle 