atomic pop

Lina’s becoming more and more fun to be with all the time–except when in the middle of a tantrum, which is also becoming more common (”No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!”). We’re enjoying the former and doing our best not to encourage the latter (it’s amazing how much energy a kid can put into demanding what she wants when all she has to do is say, “cookie please” to get it, but that’s not what this post is about).

One of the cute things she’s doing these days is putting “m’” in front of words, as if to say “my”. If you’ve seen “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and remember Everett (George Clooney) waking up suddenly and shouting, “M’ hair!”, then you have an idea what it sounds like. “M’ hand!” (in her pocket). Me: “Where is Lina’s hand?” Lina (with a big smile): “Gone!” Priceless.

A couple of weeks ago there was a problem with Lina’s daycare so we had to keep her home a couple of days. Since Stephanie teaches in the mornings, I stayed home with Lina for a couple of mornings. It’s not unusual for Lina and me to hang out, but I think we were both enjoying the extra time together. I know I was. We were playing in her room on one of those sunny mornings, when she floored me. She stopped playing, looked up into my eyes seriously, smiled a big smile, and said (in the cutest, sweetest, most sincere and beautiful voice possible, of course), “M’ happy, Papa”. M’ heart nearly exploded. I don’t know where she learned the concept of happiness–school? From us?–or how to apply it to herself, but I do know that she couldn’t have been happier than I was at that moment.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2007 at 18:57 and is filed under shane. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.