Little Rewards

As a mom of a baby/toddler, sometimes you feel like you give, give and give some more---without getting much in return.

Well, today, I got a little something. Just a little nugget of a reward from my dear daughter. Mara Kate has been trying to "talk" for awhile now and has a limited amount of words she can say clearly as well as an unlimited amount of jumbled syllables/babbling. One thing she is very good at saying is bye-bye and she even understands the concept of what "going bye-bye" means and uses the phrase in the correct context most of the time.

This afternoon she woke up from her nap and I could hear her babbling and playing in her bed. When I opened the bedroom door to get her up she was standing in her bed and looked up at me as I entered the room and smiled and said "Hi!". It was the most precious thing--and I was so impressed that she used the word Hi as a greeting---she is learning language and concept! These little minds are such amazing things.

Anyway, as any Mom would know---this simple "hi" completely melted my heart. I swooped her out of her bed and covered her face with kisses!

I love when you are blessed with little rewards after 18 months of mothering---especially when they are totally unexpected. :)

These are some of the fun faces Mara Kate made today while eating lunch. :) She has really turned into a little ham! As you can see behind her---we have started packing and there are stacks of boxes sitting around our apartment, either full, taped shut and labeled or empty waiting to be filled. In the midst of packing, we are still living life and Mara Kate and I are really enjoying our days together.