Some things I’ve learned about my girl:
- Her morning smiles are the best, open-mouth and ear-to-ear, just so happy to be here, and to see you.
- She is an incredibly social being. Has been since day one. Staring intently at faces, giving out smiles. Her conversation consists of animated babbles. Ardent “gaaaaahs!” followed by squeals (we call them Pterodactyl sounds). She’s feeling something, and wants to communicate it.
- Sometimes she’ll stare down strangers in the elevator until they interact with her.
- Sometimes she’ll get a case of the giggles. Utter silliness, an expectant stare, waiting for you to do anything to crack her up.
- Sometimes she’ll cycle through five or six different emotions in a matter of seconds. Spontaneous whole-hearted expressions of joy, curiosity, playfulness, discomfort, love, suspiciousness, anxiety. Although, one feeling always wins in the end — hunger.
- She loves food, particularly sweet potato.
- She loves cuddles. Hey, not all babies do.
- Everything changes, so quickly. I started this list a month ago, and I’ve already had to remove two or three bullets. Things that seemed essential to her being at one point, but now she’s already moved on.
Caring for her is far more rewarding than any work I’ve done in life.
I love feeling capable, of soothing her, feeding her, comforting her, talking to her, bathing her, putting her to sleep. Even changing a poopy diaper, or cleaning up the collateral damage from poop-splosions.
It’s all an unbelievable responsibility. A joyous one. It can take me out of myself, exhausted from a poor night’s sleep or a tough meeting.
I feel bonded to her, and her to me. I can see it when she smiles at me for no other reason than just spotting my face.
To put it simply, I love being her Dad.
AG 