Parental Pride

So, Justin and I had one of those super-exciting-the-baby-is-getting-so-smart moments tonight. After dinner, Justin and I were sitting in the dining room while Roxanne was "talking" to Katie, who was hiding under the dining room table. This is normal, since Roxanne is completely infatuated with Katie these days and has been trying to kiss her on the mouth lately (ick). Roxanne started walking into the kitchen and then coming back into the dining room (they are only separated by a waist-high partition over half of the opening, so it's pretty much open) and talking to Katie. After a couple of times, I stood up to see what she was doing, and realized that she was walking to the fridge, tapping it with one hand and then holding that hand out with her forefinger and thumb pinched together like she was holding something all the way back to Katie, to whom she offered the "treat" while jabbering at her. She did this probably five or six times before Justin tried to give Roxanne some actual food to give Katie, which sort of ruined the trick. No offense to Justin, I thought it was a good move on his part at the time, but in retrospect, it was so cool that she was playing such a specific game of pretend! I mean, I have shown her how to feed some of her stuffed animals before with a spoon, and she gets that pretty well, but it was me showing her. This was entirely her making up this game. I mean, we don't even feed Katie anything out of the fridge. And when we really thought about it, we're not totally sure how she knows that the food comes from there. Usually she's already in her high chair when we get her food out, and it doesn't seem like she would be able to see it.

For all of you reading this post and thinking that I'm silly for getting so excited about such a little thing, trust me... I know. If you had told me the things that make my day these days three years ago, I would have laughed at you. Being a mom is just beautiful. I know some days I complain about things a lot, but I shouldn't. All those cliches you read about in parenting magazines or see in movies are true for me. At least once a day I look at Roxanne and marvel at her. Just her. It's hard to see myself or even Justin in her, because she is so completely herself. She is perfect.

Oh me oh my. Is this sleep deprivation? Hormones? Someone please remind me about this post the next time Roxanne is slapping me in the face and saying "outz" in a wild giggle (her version of "ouch"). Or when she looks right at Justin at the dinner table and throws her asparagus on the floor, waiting about two full seconds before saying "uh-oh." Or in about an hour when she's screaming on the baby monitor... :)