It's the little things
The best part of being a parent is not so much about the big things…it's about the little things.
It's watching your baby feel the wind on her face for the first time, or hear a new noise, or discover her voice can make all kinds of different sounds and tones, or just do something she has never done before.
My daughter puckers up her lips in a little kiss type way all the time. It's just one of the things she does. I can't tell you if this is a baby thing or unique to her, but it's adorable, especially when she does it and her eyes get huge because she is discovering something new. When she felt the breeze on her skin, her eyes opened wide and her little mouth puckered up and she just experienced the feeling. I know I certainly take that feeling for granted, but as I watched her, I tried to imagine what it must feel like to feel that for the very first time, and being so little, to not know where it comes from or what it is, but to decide it's kind of a nice feeling.
New noises are really interesting, especially when she turns her head to look for them, trying to figure out her environment.
The other night she started crying after we put her down. Not a “feed me” cry or a “change me” cry or even really a “hold me” cry. I think she was just discovering that her voice could do all sorts of things. So I would describe it as a sing-songy cry. All over the place - different notes, different tones, different lengths. It was adorable and funny, but finally my husband picked her up and held her to quiet her down because it was, after all, the middle of the night and we all needed to sleep.
Today she reached out and grabbed a toy in her hand. I'm not sure that she did it exactly on purpose, but it's the first time she's actually grabbed something out of my hand and into hers. I am sure it won't be the last.
And to me, to us, it's all wonderful. Not wonderful as in “wow, that's cool”, but wonderful as in full of wonder. Parents of babies have a wonderful opportunity. They get to discover the world all over again through another's eyes. I hope as we do this through our little one's eyes, we learn not to take those simple things for granted anymore.
Certainly the first word and the first step will be awesome moments, but really…it's the little things that make being a parent so amazing.
Through little eyes we shall see the world anew.
