A Child's Face Can Say So Much... Especially The Mouth Part Of The Face.

I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about my daughter.

My beautiful, happy sixteen month-old daughter, who is now in the process of cutting her molars.

God love her, she is not happy with anything lately. She's a daddy's girl through and through, but she's been clinging to her mama like plastic wrap lately. Not that I mind, don't get me wrong! I think it's great that mama's got a one-up on daddy... We've got an unspoken battle going on over who the little angel prefers and at this point, I think we're 2 and 1 and I'm up.

I was making a lovely dish of linguine and clam sauce last night to celebrate Sunday and while my illustrious husband was napping, I had the babe out in the kitchen with me while I cooked. She played and played for a little while, banging on the pots and pans that I had so lovingly spread out on the kitchen floor and babbling to her 'dollies' about colors and numbers. We're in the process of teaching her ABCs and her numbers and I have to say; being the absolute brillz child that she is, she's picking up on things so quick.

I digress.

I'm in the process of simmering my sauce just so and the little lady decides she wants some mama-time. Right now. She's starting to cry and grab onto my yoga pants, half-pulling them down in the process. My back door is open. My neighbors are out and about in the lovely weather. I'm mooning them from my kitchen door. Lovely.

I pull my pants back up and turn the heat on the sauce down. Picking up my sweetheart (we'll call her Jane for internet purposes), she curls up in my arms and starts muttering to me about Elmo and how she loves Dora (as in the Exploraaa). She's so endearing at times like this. She's such a strong-willed child, and smart and when she shows a little bit of vulnerability (especially to her mama!), I'm completely blown away.

Doing anything for the rest of the night, baby Jane makes impossible. Not that I mind. I'm soaking up the attention from my own personal daddy's girl and strutting around the house like I won the World Cup or something. Or at least like I got us a good deal on car insurance, anyway.

Needless to say, Jane was so attached to me for the rest of the evening, that I had to kick hubby out of the big, warm, comfortable bed, because she wanted in. I awoke around 3 AM to find her sweet little body curled up against mine, patting my face and saying 'Mama... Mama'. Almost brought me to tears. The love I hold for this little girl is just insurmountable.

Today, my mother comes over to watch the darling and I get ready to go to work. I'm just about ready and Jane is smiling at me and waving at me... Blowing me kisses and showing me her pearly little teeth that she's overcome, so far.

Then she looks at me and says, "Now, GO, Mama. Go", and points to the door.

So much for being a mama's girl.