Sweet and Spicy Little Girl

My husband and I decided that we should write a book called "I Never Knew How Sad My Life Was Until My Toddler Told Me" and in it we'll note the little things about our sad lives that she points out to us. For example, at the age of one she could easily identify food by the plastic/paper bags that we brought take out home in; she could say "pizza" when she heard the doorbell; when we said, "It's time for dinner," she would go find her shoes... yeah, we didn't cook very much. Now that she's two the hints are just slightly more subtle, she put on a cape the other day and said, "I'm a man like Daddy, a BIG MAN." I don't know where the cape idea came from, but my husband was sad that she called him "big" because of his weight, though I honestly think she wasn't pointing out his weight so much as his general size compared to her short self. At two years old, she notes that all the pop belongs to Mommy (yeah... got a problem there) and that she needs cookies to help her feel better (she got that one from me too).

As a companion book we thought we'd also write a book called "I Never Knew What a Nice Person I Was..." that'll show the little things that she's learned from us that are rather endearing. At one she would gives hugs and gentle pats on the back to her friends/family that she saw crying; her first words were "tickle tickle tickle" and no, I'm not kidding about that one, and she gave kisses to her little friends when it was time for them to go. Now at two she loves to help take care of her baby brother; she cuddles her baby dolls by wrapping them up in a blanket and singing to them the same songs we sing to her (mostly Lullaby Brahms and A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief). She reads books to her stuffed animals and to her baby brother. She asks, "Mommy, are you sad," when I'm down and gives me a hug. When I smile she says, "I made you so happy!" And she's right, she did, her hugs always do make me happy. She talks to the picture of Jesus Christ in our living room, "Hi Jesus, I love your picture!" Just the other day she found a pamphlet about the Savior and said, "IT'S JESUS!" I said, "yeah, that's a little book about what he taught people about how to be good," and she said, "oh... I should give it to Him," then she placed it on the shelf below His picture.

I love my daughter. She's a fiery little red-head that is also sweeter than my favorite cookies. She can scream with the best of 'em, but I wouldn't trade her for the world. She wakes us up at three in the morning to cuddle because she had a bad dream; she steals my kitchen utensils and my cellphone and hides them around the house; she loves to color and paint and sing. She's a darling and a challenge, and I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father everyday that I get to be her mother.