Slightly awake but still sleepy, I felt my little boy’s lips touch mine and then heard the words, “Good morning, Mommy!”
Eyes still closed, I replied, “Good morning, sweetie.”
“You’re my sweet Mommy,” came the response, quite unexpected for me but certainly clear. Then I was fully awake! My heart swell…as always happens when my sweet little boy declares unabashedly and eloquently his feelings through words.
“Awwww…Honey, you’re my sweet boy, too.” I grabbed him and gave him the tightest hug I can give a weeny little boy.
“I love you, Mommy!” My heart’s bursting!
“I love you, too, Baby!”
I am so thankful for this morning’s early morning wake-up. I’m finding out that one of the amazing things about being a parent is witnessing our son’s language development, from those early days of grunts and weird noises to those first mumbling sounds to what is now a most clear conversational kind of talking. It’s amazing, really, that this all has happened in the first three years of his life. And what’s even more amazing and beautiful is his way of expressing what I call his love feelings – without any expectation of returns, though not returning the love feelings would be kind of ba-hum-bag. He also almost always says “I love you, Mommy” at the most unexpected times but always the right time to me. Like this morning, for instance.
In the early morning hours, the little guy, for some reason, started crying on and off. I thought he may be having a bad dream because his cries were just a few seconds long with a few minutes of break. After about 20 minutes of this back and forth crying and settling down on his own, he cried again, and this time, he sat up and starting just bawling. After about 10 minutes of trying to calm him down, he finally settled. Realizing that he may be too hot under the blanket, I took off his footed pajama. Then he slept and snored until the sun broke through. About an hour prior to the first cry, he’d asked for lotion to slather around and behind his knee where his eczema is acting up again. Half an hour later, he asked for more lotion, this time on his arms. Then the crying. I did not have a good sleep, if any, after midnight.
So, you see, his kisses and sweet words this morning really were just the thing much needed by this zombie sleep-deprived Momma. That’s the other thing about parenthood I am discovering – the sleeplessness. But, no matter. I still won’t trade anything for this – the tenderness of a sweet little boy who knows quite well how he feels and thinks about his Mommy to express it in words.
Grateful for beautiful moments such as this.