Evidences of Mercy

goober.   we went to midtown this afternoon. and while the big kids goofed around, she wandered off a tiny ways, laid herself down on the warm pavers, smiled her goober smile, and pretended to sleep, simply repeating,  "warm, warm, warm..."

tampa bay baby.   she came tromping in from outside wearing this tutu and TB Rays hat. so oblivious to how darling she is. she came up to me, laid her head down on my lap, while leaning against me, sucked her thumb for a minute or so, then popped back up, told me "Iloveyousomuch!" and flew back outside to play. her face reminded me of not my own... in such a beautiful way. i wished you could've seen that moment.

Halloween. Every since she received her green dinosaur cup, she's been all about dinosaurs. So much so, that when we saw this sweet little costume for $12.99 at Costco, we had to get it (no matter that it's never ever ever chilly on Halloween here, thus rendering the costume useless). She boycotted the costume at the last minute, so we pivoted to match her other sisters. She took a little breather, but then came into her full self: keeping up with the big siblings, loving the personal interactions with each neighbor, shouting greetings and farewells of great joy and love with all her heart.  She loves big, she loves freely. I love it about her.  

https://youtu.be/zbR-NpGzMy0 She loves to follow in the footsteps of her older sisters and color in the evenings while I read aloud. Every time she makes a mark, she looks up at me and says, "Look, Mom. I draw ____." Her vocabulary is extensive and at times I wonder, how in Heaven's name does she know what a circle is? And every time she looks at me with her precious face, I wonder if her grandmother saw a similar face  looking up at her so many years ago.

As I bathed her tonight, she wanted to play the game of pinching cheeks. She loves that thrill of "get you." How she loves to laugh. She's so typically a 2-year old, with all the begging for repetition, and shouts of "mine!", love of destruction all throughout the house. And yet, she's so untypical to me. Every breath of hers is one I find miraculous. I wonder if the wonder of her life will every cease to astound me. We miss you.