Day 385: Love, love, love

I read another blog post earlier today that has inspired this one. I started this little project of mine because I wanted to show the truth of motherhood - or at least the truth of my experience with it. The good, the bad AND the ugly. But it occurs to me that in my quest to show the hidden underbelly of motherhood I may not have given due credit to the good stuff. So consider this an ode that, and an ode to my daughter Mads. Because I'm sure through these posts you've gotten to know me, but I'd really like it if you knew her, too. She is worth knowing.

Maddie loves to sneeze. If she had to make a list of her favourite things in life, I'm pretty sure sneezing would make the top five. She gets such a kick out of it. So she'll sneeze, break into a huge smile, then usually sneeze again. But because she thinks it's so fun, she wants to keep sneezing. So she'll open her mouth wide, tilt her head back, and just wait for the next one to come.

She's a nature girl. She loved being outside even when she was a newborn, and she still does. Whenever something happens that upsets her - if she bumps her head or takes a little tumble - we quickly whisk her out to the front porch and it's like hitting a reset button. She immediately calms and is happy as can be. When we go for walks now she's always looking around, pointing at flowers and trees as we pass. Last night we went down to the park and on the way she started waving at something. I thought it was just random waving, but then saw she was actually just saying hi to a crow sitting on the wire above us.

Mads is a troublemaker. This, I admit, makes me crazy sometimes. But she is just her father's daughter. He still gets a kick out of pulling pranks and stirring up trouble. She knows what she's not supposed to do, but she does it anyways. And she makes sure she does it while in our direct line of vision, so that we can tell her "no" and she can look over at us, smile, and go ahead and do it anyways. It's infuriating sometimes, but in a strange way it's also sort of endearing.

The kid loves to eat. She would eat all day long if we let her. She drinks juice from her sippy like she's downing whiskey shots at a biker bar - throws her head back, slurps it down, slams the cup on the table. I worry that she may have gotten that from me. Oh, and she thinks everything - from eggs to chocolate cake - tastes better with cheese; which, of course, it does.

She is really smart. I know all parents say that about their kids, but in this case it's true. (And yes, I know that all parents say that, too.) When you ask her, "Where's Emma?", she crawls over to the dog, plops herself down, and points to her. When you ask her, "Where are the birds?", she'll crawl to the window to see if she can find you one. When you ask her, "Where are the flowers?", she goes into the kitchen and points to the vase on the table. And when you say, "Where's Daddy?", she opens up her Baby Einstein book, flips through the pages and points at the monkey. See what I mean? Smart! (Okay, she only did the last one once, but it made my week. One year old and already mocking Daddy - a girl after my own heart!)

She is this little person, full of personality and promise, full of love and trust. And I am lucky to know her.