Fostering Beauty

My husband and I are told with a certain consistency how cute/adorable/beautiful our daughter is.  And we agree with them - but we are horribly bias in the matter.  I mean, she is 1/2 our DNA each, so we have a self-interest in the matter.  But the thing is, we know that physical beauty fades.  We all age.  Accidents and scars happen.  Being cute/adorable/beautiful isn't what matters.

The beauty that we are attempting to foster - spiritual beauty.  We wouldn't care if our kid was the most unfortunate looking  individual on the planet as long as she is nice, honest, caring and God-loving.  Besides being one of the most trusting and sassy little girls I know, she is very loving.  She will give hugs and/or kisses to just about anyone who asks for one - but only if she wants to.  She is sassy!  High fives are almost a given.  Waves, smiles, and giggles flow freely.  She is the kind of kid that everyone wants and we are so blessed to call her ours.  We started praying with her from the time she was born.  At 16 months old she can already make the sign of the cross (well it is more of a face-palm followed by 3 chest pounds, but it is better than many her age can do), she knows when to bow in mass, and she has figured out the rhythm of when to stand and when to kneel during the stations of the cross (although this just seems to be a great excuse to play pew peek-a-boo with whatever unsuspecting individual decides to sit behind us - which is one of her favorite things about mass)  Our hope and prayer is that she continues to grow to be such a great little person on the inside - because that beauty can grow and blossom into the type of person that everyone wants to be around.  Physical beauty fades - a loving nature is forever. 

Daddy talks

I came home and found my husband taking a bathe (not something unusual).  Since I was holding my daughter, when she heard his voice she smiled big, started bouncing on my him, and giggled.  Again, nothing unusual.  So we had this conversation:

Me (in a high pitched baby-like voice while hiding my face behind my child):  Daddy, I have something to tell you.

Hubby:  What?!? (along with a the general accompanying "oh crap, what happened" look)

Me (still talking like my kid) I kissed a boy

Hubby: Oh boy

It is at this point the baby looks away and refuses to look him in the face.  She wouldn't look at him for quite a few minutes.  It was very funny.

I think she knew she did something daddy wasn't going to approve of.  This may have been the first of many daddy talks - but it was soooo funny and cute!

Make a wife/mom's heart melt

Our daughter has been kind of a stinker when it comes to her sleep pattern lately.  My child who early on would be fine with being put down awake at a designated time would quietly play until she fell asleep or just realize once the lights were turned out and the music from the mobile started it was time to close her eyes, grab her bear and just fall asleep.  Well she had an ear infection a few weeks back.  Because of this, she couldn't stand laying down.  She spent the better part of two weeks either sleeping in her swing or on my chest while I sat in the papasan.  Not the most comfortable sleeping situation, but hey, both of us got some sleep.  Well I think she got very comfortable with the idea of sleeping next to me because she has decided that sleeping on her own will only happen after a temper tantrum.  She has been crying (half asleep mind you) prior to settling down for about a week now.  Tonight as I was washing the bottles of the day (and listening to her scream), I heard my husband's footsteps going toward our daughter and a few seconds later she stopped crying.  I assumed that she had convinced him to pick her up.  So after I was done I walked toward them and noticed something unexpected.  The baby was in her own bed.  My husband was sitting a few feet away softly singing to her and she was just looking at him.  She just needed to hear her daddy's voice to calm down.  Since I work evenings and am often times not home when she goes to sleep I asked him if he does this often.  I was pleasantly happy when he said he does and it generally works.  It is so nice to see how much she adores her daddy and how much he loves her.